Finality
by Ghostalker
Summary: Sequel to Duality. Raven mourns the loss of her love, Tylan. Will she be able to put the past behind her? Or is the past coming back to haunt her? Please rate and review. May be slightly OOC. Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: I know this story is nice and new and shows up real nice on the front pages, but please, please, PLEASE, go read Duality, the prequel to this. This story won't make much sense unless you do. That being said, on with the story.

_It was dark… so very dark._

_Then the world started to appear… slowly at first, blurry, but gradually sharpening to reveal a scene she had wished she would never relive._

_Slade stood across the abandoned warehouse from her. He was pointing a black-and-white amulet at her, and he said, "Time to finish this." _

_A black-and-white beam of magic erupted from the amulet, but before the thought even registered in her mind, a man clad in black armor seemed to materialize in front of her. He cried out, his hands __glowing__ a bright blue, brighter even than the sun, and then he released the pent-up energy in the form of a river of power, aimed at the orange-and-black-clad villain._

_Slade was frozen in place just like Raven. The blue stream of energy engulfed him in an explosion the likes of which neither he, the black-armored man, or Raven had ever seen. It was the closest Slade had been to dying since Terra trapped him in a lava pit._

_A moment after the brightness of the attack faded, the black-and-white magic, from the amulet Slade had held, struck the man in armor in the chest, causing a bright flash of light. He slumped to the ground, and Raven fell to her knees next to him._

_"Don't…mourn…me…" he whispered to her. Raven was unaware of anything else around her, looking deep into those azure eyes that had so captivated her with their light, a light that was now leaving them forever._

Raven woke up weeping.


	2. Chapter 1 Reversion

This story is heavily inspired by two songs: "All Coming Back to Me Now" by Meat Loaf, and "Haunted" by Evanescence. As the story goes, you'll probably be able to see why.

The next morning, Raven said nothing to her friends of the nightmare she had had the past night. Or the past few weeks. It had been nearly a year since Tylan had died, and Raven still hadn't gotten over him.

Her friends were worried about her. She had kept her decision to stay civilian, though she tried to help her friends when she could by helping them figure out complicated cases. Mostly, however, she went to school, and then returned immediately to her room. The other Titans barely saw her at all, their exposure to their melancholy friend limited mostly to breakfast and occasionally dinner.

As Raven poured herself a cup of her favorite tea, she knew the other Titans were watching her, though they had the good sense not to say anything. They knew why she was becoming more and more melancholy, and Raven suspected it was the same reason her nightmares increased in both frequency and vividness.

The one-year anniversary of his death was coming.

"Hey, uh Raven?" This came from Beast Boy, who was unexpectedly right next to her. "You're pouring too much tea, dude."

Raven looked down at her cup, and immediately lifted the kettle, though the damage had been done. The tea had overflowed from the cup, filled the saucer, and spilled onto the counter.

"Sorry," she muttered, then turned to grab a paper towel to wipe up the mess. The worry emanating from her friends was almost _tangible_, for Raven had never lost focus when doing something so simple as pouring tea.

Beast Boy grabbed her hand, and immediately released it when he saw her glare. "It's ok, Rae…ven. I'll clean it up." He narrowly avoided calling her the nickname she had allowed only one person to call her, a person who now lay six feet underground. He grabbed a roll of paper towels, but they slipped, causing the roll to bounce across the floor, trailing a long ribbon of absorptive paper. Beast Boy let out a small shriek, then began chasing the wayward roll. Raven almost smiled at Beast Boy's antics; not because they were funny, necessarily, but because she knew he was trying to cheer her up. Not that it would work, but it was the thought that counted, right?

After he had captured the paper towel roll, he commenced rolling the towels back onto it, which he achieved with fair success. He then began to clean up Raven's tea spill, prompting her to say "Thanks." She then turned toward her room and floated towards her room. What she didn't expect was Robin coming up behind her.

"Raven," he said. She turned. "I need to talk to you for a second."

"Obviously. And it's probably going to be more than a second, but I'll forgive you for that." Her sarcasm remained as practiced as ever, though any enthusiasm behind the sarcasm was long gone. She folded her non-tea hand across her chest and waited.

Robin hesitated for a moment. "Listen… I know that… well, that this is a hard time for you. What with… _it_ coming up." He did not refer to the anniversary, though they both knew she knew what he meant. But she appreciated his delicacy in approaching the subject. "In any case, I want you to know that if there's anything, and I mean _anything_, we can do to help you… I just want you to know we'd do anything to help you."

"Thanks." Compared to her recent state, this virtually radiated warmth, and Robin knew that that was the most he was going to get. He smiled at her, then turned down the hall and walked back to breakfast.

_We'd do anything to help you…_ Well, the only thing that would help her right now was beyond the reach of anyone. Nobody could bring back the dead. She shuddered at the thought. At least, they couldn't bring the dead back to _life_. The most anyone could do was bring someone's body back to a poor resemblance of life, and the body had no control over its own actions, for the one who resurrected it controlled it completely. These…_undead_ were not alive. They were merely… _undead_.

She banished the thought, then floated to her room, drank her tea, and began to get ready for school. Lately she had been dressing far more modestly than she had in the past, not to say that she had looked like a slut. But instead of black t-shirt with a black skirt, the wardrobe now consisted of a black T-shirt under a black hoodie with dark blue jeans. She wore the hood up when she could: it made her feel safer, more secure. Like when she was in her superhero uniform.

A psychiatrist might have said that Raven was dressing in a more concealing fashion due to the subconscious choice to "hide herself." The reasons, this psychiatrist might speculate, could include shielding herself from further harm, not "advertising" so as not to attract undue attention, and perhaps even the desire to cover her "sins."

But the psychiatrist, as far as Raven knew, was dead wrong. She only wore the clothes because she felt safe inside them.

She walked to school, after teleporting within a block, of course. She had eventually been re-grouped with the Goths after Tylan had died, some of his friends having befriended her within their time together, and attempting to include her. But her emotional shutdown and subsequent withdrawal had driven them away, too, until her only friends were the Titans. The Goths still radiated distaste for her, but, being the outcasts they were, could not say no to another outcast, particularly one so consumed in depression.

Her classes still brought tears to her eyes, because she had had all but one class with Tylan. She looked over to his seat, now occupied by some prep or nerd, and a wave of sadness and loss spread over her again. She barely noticed the goth boy Pale Face, who had taken to her so strongly last year. She almost felt sorry for him; he had clearly wanted her, but it wasn't fair that Tylan had come along. After all, what pierced-nose melancholy "freak" could compete with the best-looking guy in the school, who was not only good looking, but caring, smart, and sensitive?

She fought back the tears threatening to overcome her, and despite the fact that she had gained far better control over her powers, her pencil still snapped in half. She flushed with momentary embarrassment, then retrieved a new pencil and continued working.

At lunch, she sat with the Goths, having no choice. Everyone but Pale Face ignored her, while he stared at her with more than the usual intensity. She ignored him as best she could; not speaking, and picking at her food as usual.

She happened to glance up as a guy with white-blond hair breezed by. She looked at him, and despite her grief over Tylan, she found herself attracted to him.

She shook her head, as if in an attempt to clear it. She felt guilty for thinking of _anyone_ that way. Though it had been a year since his death, she was as committed to him as ever, or at least, she thought she was.

Pale Face noticed her noticing the white-haired boy, and snorted quietly, but didn't say anything. He had rarely spoken to her at all, but he made his desire for her clear through his constant attention, his vile _staring_. If she hadn't been an ex-superhero, she would have kicked his ass up between his shoulder blades. As it was, Robin made her maintain the superhero etiquette, which, unfortunately, included not beating the living crap out of stalkers.

She got up, dumped the contents of her full lunch tray into the garbage can and left the cafeteria in a mix of disappointment and disgust.

A/N: I'm sorry this isn't very exciting. It does help set up the rest of the story, which hopefully should be far more twisted and surprising than the last one.

Please rate and review. If you haven't already, please go back and read Duality; it's essential to understanding this story. Rate and review it, too, if you haven't already.


	3. Chapter 2 Darkness

Disclaimer: By now, you should probably know that nobody on this site owns the Teen Titans. I mean, for real, man. Come on, do you really think someone who owned the Teen Titans would post stories to a _fanfiction_ site? I mean, come on, think about it!! If I owned the Teen Titans, I certainly wouldn't have cancelled the show (curse you, WB!!), and I would make my stories the _reality_ of the Teen Titans.

That being said, I do own the computer on which this was typed, as well as the original characters and the stories I wrote. I also own a bag of Starburst that I am eating right now. I could go into a list of all the things I don't own, but that alone would fill 16 chapters at least, so I won't.

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That night, Raven's nightmare came again, but this time, it was more vivid, more _real_. It came into sharp focus quickly, and this, time, it extended beyond the reality it was based on.

Now, instead of Tylan merely dying, she watched as he was buried. The tears ran down her face as they had done at the funeral. But then it took a twist.

_It was a graveyard. __Dark.__ An ethereal blue light cast itself from the background as Raven walked among the stones. Without warning, hands, rotting, decaying, and dead clawed their way out of the earth. The hands were quickly followed by arms, __then__ bodies decayed beyond all human likeness. They __groaned,__ an unearthly sound that spoke of hunger… and death. She shrank from these apparitions, running as fast as her feet would take her from the undead horde shambling towards her. But everywhere she __turned,__ there were more graves, more corpses rising to feast on her life._

_She stopped at an eerily familiar headstone, its words now faded. But she knew, she _knew_ what it said, without reading it. For it was the grave of the man she loved._

_But the most frightening part of this nightmare was not the crowd of zombies moaning in desire for her flesh. It was not standing at the grave of her one true love, thinking he could never come back. No, it was the fact that he _was_ back, and standing before her, his eyes, once full of light, now dark and dead, his arms that had once held her lovingly now reaching for her, to bring her into the embrace of death. His voice, once so deep and comforting, now only a wail to echo those of the risen dead surrounding her…_

Raven woke up from her nightmare, not weeping, but _screaming_.

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The tall dark man wreathed in shadows stood, watching a computer screen. It replayed a single scene over and over again; the tall man reached down to the control panel to alter the angle from time to time.

Regardless of the fact that he had watched this particular scene well over a hundred times, he never grew bored, because for him, each repetition brought a new revelation, until he finally paused it at one particular frame.

It showed the blue light fading from the hands of a man clad in black armor, just as a black-and-white stream of energy struck him in the chest. But the dark man was not interested in this part, so much as what happened immediately after.

_He __should't__ have died_, the man thought with confusion. _That's not what the __Kryshna__ gem does_. He backed up the film slightly, until the moment just after the black-clad man was struck. A white flash blotted out most of the scene, but using photographic filters, he was able to discern something that surprised him completely.

_I had not expected such a thing to happen_, he mused. _This could complicate matters. __If he is still alive…__ I may have cause to worry._ The tall dark man still ached from his encounter with the man in black. How he had survived was a mystery, even to him, but he was too caught up in this new revelation to give that any thought.

_I have got to find him_, thought the dark man. _I have to, before the true nature of the situation reveals itself to the Titans._

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Why is Slade so worried? Why shouldn't Tylan have died? What does the Kryshna gem do? And what is the true nature of the situation? You'll have to wait and find out. Oh, and you'll have to leave a review. I like those.


	4. Chapter 3 Confusion

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. I thought you'd have figured that out by now.

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Raven woke from her sleep. Her nightmare had exhausted her enough that she was able to sleep the rest of the night without dreaming at all. She rose and dressed for school, wondering to herself why she was pretending that she was happier there.

Tylan wasn't there. Pale Face was there. _So why do I go? I'm miserable every time I go, because everywhere I look, there's another reminder of __Tylan__. I don't want to keep thinking about that… but then again, I do. __If it's the only way to be connected to him…__ I have no choice._ So day after day, she attended the school where her memories haunted her and each day was more depressing than the last. Particularly because the anniversary was in two weeks.

As she walked into the school, she noticed the same white-haired boy she had noticed the day before. He walked up to her, but rather than passing by as he had the day before, he smiled at her and said, "Hey, Raven."

Now she remembered where she had seen him before. He was one of Tylan's friends that had been nice to her before she completely withdrew. She remembered his name… Trent.

"Hey," she said back, somewhat quietly. He passed on by, and she caught herself looking over her shoulder at him. He _was_ incredibly good-looking… though not like…

This shook her out of her daydream. _No!!_ _I can't like anyone else! __Tylan__ was my one and only… and nobody could replace him_. She avoided gazing at the white-haired boy the rest of the day, until he approached her after school.

"Hey, um Raven?" he said while walking up next to her. She turned to him and gave him a small smile of acknowledgment. "I was… was wondering… well, that is to say…" She had never seen him so flustered, though, she had to admit, she hadn't really spent much time around him. "Do you want to, you know, like, go to a movie sometime or something?"

She was taken aback. She really _would_ like to go with him, but something else inside prevented her, as if she were afraid Tylan would be offended. But then she heard a quiet voice saying, in her head, _"All I want is for you to be happy, even if I'm not here."_

She gasped audibly, for the voice that had filled her head a moment before was the voice of Tylan. _Tylan_ she screamed in her head. _Are you there?_ But only silence greeted her mental calls, and she was suddenly jerked out of her reverie by Trent speaking again.

"Raven? Are you okay? I didn't offend you, did I?" He was mentioning her sudden gasp, which he believed to be in response to his asking her out.

She smiled back at him, though it was faint. "Yeah… I'm okay."

"So…" he prompted. "Do you want to go to the movies or something?"

"Umm… sure," she said rather nonchalantly. She was torn; on the one hand, she _did_ find him attractive, and the voice in her head had stated that Tylan only wanted her to be happy. But on the other, she still felt guilty about going on a date with someone else, particularly as the one-year anniversary was approaching in two weeks.

"Excellent. I'll pick you up at six. Where do you live?" he asked.

_Oh no!_ "Umm… actually, I'll just meet you there, okay?" She was exasperated that this was happening once again. _Yet another similarity with __Tylan__…_ she thought.

That night, the two met at the movie theater, and watched "Super Scary 7," possibly the stupidest movie she had ever seen. She managed to watch it most of the way through, until the film turned to zombies. _Oh, shit… I __gotta__ get __outta__ here…_ But it was too late, without warning, she was plunged back into her nightmare from the night before, but more was forthcoming than had been anticipated.

_As she looked into __Tylan's__ decaying face, she saw all her fears, all her weaknesses and sorrows reflected in his dead eyes. But that wasn't the only thing she saw… no, she saw in his eyes a shape of darkness. She whirled around to find herself staring at a cloud of blackness, two bright red eyes glaring out at her, before she felt strong arms latch around her and fetid breath cascade down her neck…_

"Raven!!" She was being shaken awake, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a very concerned-looking Trent. "Are you alright? You closed your eyes, and then you were shaking and screaming…"

"Yes… I'm… fine," she lied. "I just need to get out of here."

"All right." He didn't seem the least bit disturbed that his movie ticket was now wasted, but instead helped Raven up and led her out of the theater.

They drove for a while before stopping in a park. They sat in the grass watching the stars, neither touching the other. Trent was the first to break the silence. "Listen… Raven. I know that you and Tylan were really close and all. So I hope I'm not seriously offending you by asking you out. It's just… I can see why he liked you so much. You're smart, funny, caring, not to mention absolutely gorgeous. I just wish…" he trailed off.

"What?" she questioned. Before she could do anything, he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

Several things happened in her head at once. Happy screamed with pleasant surprise, Timid hid, and Sadness shrank. But at the same time, Love, the one part of her that was irrevocably tied to Tylan, recoiled in shock.

Raven pulled away. "I'm sorry… " she whispered. "I can't do this. Not now."

Trent looked immediately apologetic. "No, don't be," he said. "I understand… I understand that you'd be having issues dating anyone this close to… well, to his passing on, much less dating his friend."

She sighed. "It's not that I don't like you, Trent. But you're right: I have issues with dating anyone right now, and while I really enjoyed this time together, I don't think we can be anything more than friends. Not for a long time."

He looked sad when she said this, but nodded his head. "Ok. Do you want me to take you home?"

"No, thanks. I'll just walk myself. It's a beautiful night anyway.

"Ok… good night then."

"Night."

They parted ways, Raven turning towards the Tower in the distance, he returning to his car.

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Meanwhile, Slade had robbed a bank, another one of his annoying diversions to distract the Titans. Robin was furious. Why did Slade never make his intentions known until it was too late? Trying to figure out Slade was like trying to solve a Rubik's cube blindfolded. It could be done… but only by someone who could see and memorize patterns, and Robin was not terribly skilled in the memorization department.

He _was_, however, immensely skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and displayed his aptitude by destroying half of Slade's army of robots by himself. While Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy mopped up the remainder, Robin chased Slade into a dark alley.

Before Slade could turn around at the dead-end, Robin threw both a birdarang and a shock disk. Slade caught the birdarang but didn't see the shock disk until he was already enveloped in its web of electricity.

After the shocks passed, Slade found himself looking into Robin's livid face, a birdarang at his throat. Despite the situation, Slade still managed a chuckle.

"What's so funny, Slade? You think being imprisoned for eternity is something to be laughing about?" Robin grabbed the front of Slade's jumpsuit and slammed him into the brick wall.

"No, little Robin," replied Slade. "What's funny is that you keep trying to capture me and figure out my plans, but you fail every time. Remember, only one person has ever defeated me, and he's dead. _You_ don't have a chance."

"Try telling that to the judge," retorted Robin, as he drew his hand back to punch Slade. Without warning, Slade exploded, throwing Robin with bone-shattering force into the brick wall to his right.

His friends found him unconscious and bloody ten minutes later, though still alive by some miracle.

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Ok, a slow chapter. I know, I know, but believe me, the next contains more mystery. And cool stuff. Why did Slade explode? That's pretty obvious, I think, but in any case…

Please review, now that you've read. I like reviews; they motivate me to write more.


	5. Chapter 4 True Nightmares

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. Duh.

Raven awoke the next morning, refreshed. Her sleep had been pleasant, without nightmares… _Wait! I didn't have a nightmare!!_

She was exhilarated. Her nightmares had gone away, almost as if to say that Tylan approved of her choice of Trent. _But we're not really dating anymore…_

At school, her day was almost normal. She caught herself looking over at Trent a few times, though she quickly looked away once she realized he was looking at her as well. They talked, and decided that being friends for the time being was probably the best idea. The day was going fine.

Little did she know she was in for a rude awakening.

During lunch, she was sitting once again at the Goth table, but Pale Face was nowhere to be seen. She was relieved; without his vile staring, she would be able to eat her lunch in relative peace.

That is, until Pale Face walked into the cafeteria, his hand in the pocket of his bulky trench coat. He walked over to the table where Raven sat.

"So…" he said to her. "I've come to do to you what you've done to me for so long. Say goodbye!" With that, he pulled his hand out from his pocket, a pistol in his grip.

"No!" Raven cried out with horror. A shot rang out, and a body hit the floor. Pale Face's body. His chest now sported a hole that was spurting bright red blood. Several people screamed with horror and jumped up from their seats, their hands over their mouths in shock. The Goths jumped from their seats as well, their normally impassive faces now registering surprise and fury.

Pale Face's face was paler than normal as he struggled for breath. His expression, however, was not one of pain, but of triumph, as a smirk played across his face. Then he took his last breath and slumped down, dead of his own accord.

Raven was shaking visibly, and Trent came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her, leading her from the scene of the carnage, though the look on Pale Face's face was still fresh in her mind. He led her out to his car, where he turned her to face him and embraced her. She didn't shrink away, and instead melted into his embrace, sobbing uncontrollably.

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That very night, the remainder of the Titans were called to the museum in response to an automated security system. The thief was either very stupid or _wanted_ to get caught, Robin noted, as he saw the broken glass in the front door. He rubbed his sore arm, which had healed well from Slade's attack, and directed the Titans.

"Alright, Titans. Here's the plan. This robber is almost certainly very stupid, so the easiest thing to do is slit up and find him, then bring him in. Everyone goes by themselves; it'll make it easier to find whoever it is."

The other Titans nodded their agreement, then entered the building. Starfire and Beast Boy took the upper levels of the museum, while Cyborg took the main level, and Robin took the basement.

As Robin entered the dark basement, he wished he had brought a light, especially when the light switch lit only one dim bulb. By this meager light, he searched the many rows of catalogued history, each more ancient and obscure than the last.

As he neared the last row, he heard a shuffling noise and a low moan. Drawing a birdarang, he stepped out and shouted at the silhouette, "Freeze! This is Robin of the Teen Titans! Put down any weapons you have and put your hands on your head."

The burglar didn't even acknowledge Robin's statement, but instead turned and began limping toward him. "I'm warning you! Take another step, and I will have to attack!" The figure continued to shamble towards him, and Robin let loose with the birdarang. The thief made no move to dodge the razor-sharp blade, and it stuck directly in his chest. Robin did a double take as not only did the figure not cry out in pain, but it _kept on walking!_

Robin flipped open his communicator as he pulled out an electric disk. "Titans, get down here now! I've found the burglar, but he's too much for me to handle alone! Hurry!"

"Sorry, man, no can do." Cyborg replied. "I got my hands busy with three of these buggers, and they just keep getting up!"

"Friend Robin, I am also unable to defeat my opponents. If I can, I will be there as soon as possible, but they are unhurt by my starbolts!" Starfire's worried face appeared in the T-communicator for a moment, then disappeared as she closed the communicator to fight without distractions.

"Dude, I've got the same problem!"Beast Boy shouted. "They just won't stay down! And they keep trying to bite me!"

_"What!?!?"_ Robin shouted. "Bite you?"

His opponent launched himself at Robin, his mouth open wide, and Robin started as the light revealed the creature's face. It resembled a human, alright; a long-dead human whose eyes were vacant and staring, and whose skin was rotting and teeth falling out. No blood dripped from the blade stuck in its chest, and it grabbed Robin with superhuman force.

Robin had seen something like this only once before in his life, and that was when he had seen _Super Scary 5_ when Beast Boy brought it home from the video store. _It's a zombie!_ his mind cried out in disbelief. But zombies were only supposed to exist in fiction, right?

That notion was put to flight as the creature stretched out, its vile jaws closing in on Robin's neck. With a strength born of desperation and adrenaline, Robin managed to jerk himself out of the zombie's grip, then slammed two birdarangs together to create a sword. He slashed the zombie in its chest, but nothing happened. He then aimed for its leg, and cut it off, though the ghoul continued to come, crawling and moaning.

_I swore I would never kill… but this is something I can't do anything about!_ No matter how much he tried to injure the monster, it kept coming. Finally, his teeth gritted with regret, he slashed the zombie's head from its neck. The body immediately went limp.

Robin stood, panting from exertion and shock at what he had just done. He opened his communicator again, and spoke into it. "Titans… fall back on me. I know how to stop them, but it won't be easy for any of us. Meet me back on the main level."

Each of the Titans responded affirmatively, then retreated from their enemies. They met Robin back in the lobby of the museum, where the cries of the undead could still be heard as they sought their victims.

"Titans, I know we swore we would never kill a criminal. But as we've all seen, these… _things_ won't give up, no matter what we throw at them." Robin looked grim. "The only way to stop them… is to go for their heads."

Cyborg turned pale, which was quite an accomplishment for his dark complexion. "Man, are you tellin' me we gotta shoot 'em in the head, or something? I can't do that!"

Robin grabbed Cyborg's shoulders roughly and shook him. "Listen to me, Cyborg! I don't like this any more than you do, but this simple truth is we have to kill them or be killed."

Cyborg's one human eye widened, but he did not argue. The other Titans became grim with the task that lay ahead.

"Alright…" said Robin, catching his breath and collecting himself. "Titans… go!"

The Titans charged back into battle, their battle cries drowned out by the moans of the horde of undead filling the museum.

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Whoa! Evil cliff-hanger! Sorry, but at least this will keep you coming back for more. Will the Titans survive the zombie attack? Why did Pale Face kill himself? Does it have anything to do with the zombies? Where did they come from, anyway? These and other questions will be answered next time… on Teen Titans!!

Ok, just kidding about that last bit. Please review, please. I love reviews.


	6. Interlude

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, though I do own this story, its prequel Duality (which you should read, if you haven't already), the OC's, and the computer I wrote this on.

_Bright light… so very bright._

_The last thing I remembered before the light was a face. A face that looked oddly familiar… but not completely._

_"We don't know what to do with you," she had said. "Normally, the Scales of Judgment would determine your eternal fate… but you have nothing to weigh!"_

_That confused me. __Scales?__Judgment?__ Why would I have nothing to weigh? I took stock of my surroundings: a city made of pale white marble, looking quite deserted, deserted, that is, except for the woman in front of me. She reminded me of someone I knew… but I couldn't quite place my finger on it._

_"You see," she continued, "when people __die,__ their good halves are weighed against their bad halves. Those whose good half is more developed take their place in paradise, while those who have done more bad than good go to eternal void. But you… you are an enigma. You don't have either a light or dark side. I have seen many a person with only one, but never someone with neither."_

_That confused me even more. "Why don't I have either?" I asked tentatively, not knowing how she would react to my interruption._

_She was not angry. "Due to the unusual circumstances of your death," she replied. "Both of your halves left your body before your death. You're all that's left."_

_"Wait just a second," I said. "If my good and evil halves both left, what does that make me?"_

_"Neither," she said. "You are the judge, the impartial that weighs the good and the bad and takes the course of action. Your decisions affect which side becomes more developed, and as one half becomes more developed and more powerful, it becomes easier to do what that side wants." She looked at me oddly. "You are you. There's no other way to really put it. You make the decisions, and you decide what course of action you will take. Your light and dark sides do not control you; _you_ control you."_

_"I see." I really didn't, at least not fully, but I didn't want an even more in-depth explanation. "So… what are you going to do with me?"_

_The woman's face turned sad. "We're going to send you back," she replied. "You will have no memory of your former life… in which you loved my daughter. You will retain your body, but your memory will be locked up until she releases it. That is your task; find her and get her to love you again, and you both shall be happy."_

_"Who is she?" I asked, but she shook her head, indicating that she could not tell me. "What am I supposed to do, then?"_

_"You will know," she said. "Also, your other task is to find your two halves and unite with them again. Until you do, you cannot die, for we cannot take you back. That would create a conundrum that would rip open the fabric of space and time. Find them as quickly as possible." She smiled at me. "And now it's time for you to go, my child." Her face began fading._

_"Wait!" I shouted. "If I'm dead, won't I be in a coffin? How will I get out?"_

_"Don't worry," her fading voice came back, "that's already been taken care of…"_

I awoke with a start, the sun blinding me, as I lay face-up in the grass of a cemetery.

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Who is this? Why is he alive again? Why wasn't he accepted into the afterlife? Why does the author ask so many questions at the end of the chapter? Who knows? You can find out when I post the next chapter, which will only come if you review.


	7. Chapter 5 Possession

Guess what everyone? I have exciting news for you. I now own the Teen Titans! In a miracle of generosity, WB and DC Comics handed the rights to the characters over to me!

If this were the 90's still, I'd probably say "Psyche!" right about now.

Of course I don't own the Teen Titans. What is ya, ig'nant?

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The Titans stood over the bodies of their foes, exhausted but triumphant. After the initial shock of fighting a horror-movie staple, the Titans were able to adjust their tactics to kill instead of capture. Robin was mentally exhausted as well, and knew that the rest of the team was in no better shape; killing took a lot out of you mentally, and the Titans were already tired as it was.

"Titans… let's go home. We need some sleep, or we'll be useless for tomorrow." Robin retracted his bo-staff and turned to leave the wrecked museum. He didn't speak the question that occupied everyone's mind: _Why did these monsters appear? Will they be back?_

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_I walked through the green cemetery, its once peaceful air ruined by the gaping holes in the ground in front of several headstones. Something had clearly escaped from these graves. I shuddered to think that, in a sense, I was one of them. What separated me from the zombies that had so recently freed themselves from their tombs? __The ability to think?__The fact that I didn't desire anyone's brains?__ I smiled to myself at that one._

_My mind flashed back to the woman in the white city. Mission… that was it. I had a mission. I recalled her words, telling me to find her daughter. But that could be anyone. I looked around me, spotting a group of mourners in the distance, mourning the "grave robbery" of their loved one. It could have been any one of those poor, misinformed souls. I had no clue._

_So I did the only thing I could do: I started walking._

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Raven awoke in her bed, though she had no recollection of actually _going_ to bed. She had had a different nightmare that night; she saw Pale Face this time, his skin pallid with the tone of death, his eyes dull. But her other dreams had featured zombies crying out for flesh; in this one, she could only hear him saying, "_Help…me….help...me…" _She didn't have pity on him, really, but she wondered why he had invaded her dreams. Was it a warning? Was it simply her guilty conscience? She didn't know.

She walked out her door and into the hallway to find the Titans crashed on the main room floor. They were covered in gore, though not blood, and she recoiled at the terrible smell emanating from them.

"Guys!" she shouted. Only Beast Boy managed to wake up, and then, just barely. He gave her a weak smile. "Hey, Rae."

She ignored his use of her nickname, and cut straight to the point. "What happened to you guys? You're all disgusting, and here you are lying on the floor! Who, or what, did you fight to get yourselves covered in this…" she couldn't bring herself to say "gore."

His grin faded. He bounced up, his eyes wide as he related his story. "Dude, we were like, 'we got a call to the museum' and then, we get there, and Robin's like 'let's split up and catch the stupid robber,' only it wasn't a stupid robber, it was a bunch of zombies, and they're all like 'rarrr' and we're all like 'oh shit!' and they're all like 'rarrr' and we're all like 'bring it' and they're all like 'rarrr' and we're like, 'consider it brunged,' and we kicked some zombie butt, but it was really scary!" He hadn't taken a breath in that entire run-on sentence, and he looked like he was about to pass out.

Raven held out her hand, motioning for him to slow down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did you just say 'zombies?' Like in 'Super Scary 5, 6, and 7?'"

Beast Boy nodded emphatically. "It was creepy, and at the same time, vaguely cool. I mean, it was creepy, because it was zombies we were fighting, but at the same time, it was cool 'coz we were fighting _zombies!_"

Raven rolled her eyes. "That made no sense." But behind her sarcastic exterior, she secretly worried that Beast Boy might be telling the truth. Which meant her nightmares were coming true…

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The young man sat hunched over, holding his head in his hands.

He didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was, it wasn't good.

It had all started two nights ago, when he and his friends had attended a party at a friend's house. Naturally, they had all gotten wasted, and someone decided to pull out an old Ouija board. It was just harmless fun, right?

Well, it had started that way. But eventually, they got to asking it darker questions, and the young football player had began to feel a bit odd. He passed out, and, his friends later told him, this was exactly when the board had stopped working. They thought he was pushing it. Maybe he was… he didn't remember. He was too drunk.

As he had driven home, he kept hearing voices. He'd written it off as being drunk, and perhaps having inhaled a bit of that marijuana someone was smoking. But the next morning, he could still hear the two voices, one loud and commanding, the other frightened and small. And he had begun to feel himself give in to the stronger voice.

_I need you to do me a favor…_ it had whispered. _I need you to take me to the cemetery outside of town. __Tonight, at midnight.__ You must go alone._

So go alone he had, though not without drinking a six-pack first. He barely managed to make it to the graveyard, and passed out on the ground. His last conscious awareness was of a dark cloud-like substance passing along the ground near his face toward the headstones. Then everything went black.

He awoke to find himself in the midst of a nightmare come alive. As he raised his head, he saw a shadow, with a vaguely human form and glowing red eyes cackling triumphantly as a small crowd of corpses shambled out of the graveyard and into town. _Oh my god… what have I done?_ he thought. He pushed himself unsteadily to his feet, and was about to leave the graveyard when the shadow spoke.

"_And just where do you think you're going?"_ it hissed at him.

"I'm getting the hell outta here. I don't know who you are, or what the hell you're doing, but I'm getting outta here right now!" He turned around and tried to flee, only to find the shadow in front of him, its burning crimson eyes locked on his own.

"_You're not going anywhere, fool. You're in over your head, and now you have to do what I say. Or else…"_ Pictures of his girlfriend, bleeding and crying out in pain, flashed through his head. The shadow chuckled evilly. _"I'm pretty sure you can guess the rest."_

He was stuck. He had nowhere to go, nothing he could do. He sank to his knees, frustrated and helpless. "All right. I'll do whatever you want. Just don't hurt her."

The evil shape grinned. _"That's the spirit. Now hold still..."_ It dissolved into a black mist, which drifted over to the young man and entered his mouth. Almost immediately, his mind began to cloud, and his vision faded as he slipped into unconsciousness once again. The last thing he heard in his mind was "_and now to find that book…"_

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Who was raised to life? Who was possessed by the shadow? Why is the shadow interested in a book? Which book? To find out more, visit my website at… ok, just kidding, leave a review and I'll feel better about posting the next chapter.

a cookie to anyone who can tell me the reference. In a review, of course.


	8. Chapter 6 Reunion

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. I do own this amazing plot, the prequel to this, Duality, and its plot too. I also own some books. And a computer. And some food. But that's irrelevant.

A/N: This chapter is somewhat long, at least, for my typical chapter, but I felt better about putting everything in one long chapter rather than making you wait for two or three chapters. Enjoy!!

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Raven took a walk the next day. She had no ulterior motive, no objective. She just needed a walk and fresh air to clear her head and collect herself.

Thoughts fought for dominance of her mind. _Why did Pale Face commit suicide? I mean, sure, I wasn't that nice to him, but that isn't a reason to do that. _Then another thought struck her. _If he had a gun in the cafeteria, and he was really that angry, why didn't he shoot anyone else? If his motive was to kill himself, he could just have easily have done that at home._

Another train of thought took over. _I've been having nightmares for the past two weeks. Then, I start dating Trent, and they go away, only to return when Pale Face kills himself. Then they start coming true; my friends were attacked by zombies last night._ She frowned. _But if the dreams are coming true, and they're really predictions of the future… what does that mean for the Pale Face dream?_ No matter how she flipped it around, the problem would not resolve.

She looked up from her musings to discover that her feet had led her directly into town. Deciding to walk around a little bit, she ventured down the street toward a Gothic book shop she knew rather well. Intending to browse the selection of books, she stepped inside.

The dark atmosphere was comforting, in a strange way. The smell of incense filled the enclosed space. She perused the shelves, not searching for anything in particular. She was still searching when someone ran into her.

"Oof!" She glanced up from her position on the floor to see a hulking guy dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans. "Sorry…" he muttered, clutching the book to his chest, as he hurried to the counter to pay and leave.

Raven stared after him. Why was he in such a hurry? Why was he nervous at seeing her? Granted, he might have recognized her as one of the Teen Titans, but that was unlikely, as virtually no one else in the city had. She watched as he rushed from the store, a look of abject fear on his face.

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_I walked continuously, not pausing for anything. I didn't need it. I felt no hunger, no thirst, __no__ fatigue. No one gave me so much as a glance as I passed by them. I thought this strange, __then__ realized that I probably hadn't known many people personally in my former life._

_I didn't remember my former name. In fact, I still hadn't given myself a new name. I was a nameless person, wandering the streets. I recognized no one, and in return, they passed by me as if I did not exist. How unfortunate __that humans__ should ignore each other in favor of their own agendas!_

_I snapped out of my reverie in time to look up and spot a black sign that simply said "Bookstore", though the sign itself had a skull in place of the third "o." I found myself irresistibly drawn to this strange place. I decided to go inside and look around. _

_As I walked up to the door, a heavy-set guy in a black shirt barged through the door and sprinted down the street as if the devil himself were chasing him. At first, I thought he might have been a robber, but why would a robber steal a single book?_

_That certainly didn't serve as a viable explanation, and so I gave it no further thought. I sidled up to the door and pulled it open. The inside was quite dark, and it smelled so good. I looked around, intrigued by the ancient volumes that occupied the shelves. The register, a small, pale girl, stared at me with widened eyes. Why? I didn't smell, did I? As far as I could discern, I looked and acted relatively normal. So why was she staring at me as if I had just risen from the dead? I mean, I had, but how on earth would _she_ know that?_

_I continued to wander around the relatively small store, pausing every now and again to look at a book that piqued my curiosity. I pulled a few from the shelves, read a few pages, then put them back. Nothing was _that_ interesting. It was then that I heard a soft voice from behind me._

_"__Tylan__?"__ I ignored it. That wasn't my name, was it? The voice grew more insistent. "__Tylan__, is that really you?"_

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Raven found herself staring at a tall, brown-haired figure. Even from the back, it was familiar. _Could it really be him? I saw him die!!!_ She quickly dismissed the thought. He was dead, and her mind was simply playing tricks on her, that was all. That was all…

But the way he moved, the way his azure eyes scanned the books was so familiar… it all came rushing back.

Their first kiss.

His arms tightly around her as she melted into him.

The glint in his eye as he showed off his latest invention.

His attempt to save her from the Perfect Thief.

The way he hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

His selfless sacrifice to save her.

Tears filled her eyes. It _was_ him! She called his name, but he didn't respond. She tried again, undeterred. At the second name, he looked around, and his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes, landed on her. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, the tears rolling down her face. "Oh, Tylan, I thought you were dead, I thought I'd never see you again, and I love you so much, I love you…"

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_I looked around at the mention of my name. A short girl was standing there, her violet eyes filled with tears. Was I __Tylan__? She rushed over to me and hugged me, crying and saying something I couldn't quite understand, but had something to do with "…you were dead… I love you so much…" _

_The pieces fell together in my mind. _This_ was the woman's daughter. __The one who had loved me… and whom I had loved.__ I looked down into her eyes, wiped away the tears, smiled…_

_…and couldn't remember her name._

_"I'm sorry…" I said. "I know that you are someone very important to me, and that you loved me, and I loved you…"_

_"…but I don't remember your name."_

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The young man ran all the way back to his house, the book clutched to his chest. His eyes darted nervously from side to side. He muttered incoherently as he approached his room. He slammed the door shut and plopped himself on his bed, the book on the floor in front of him.

"There. I did as you asked. I brought the book. What more do you want?" he asked the unseen voice he knew would answer.

_"Very good."_ The voice didn't say anything more.

"What, that's it? No more demands, no threats?" The young man was a bizarre mixture of frightened and angry.

Silence.

"You still there, or what? I mean, I went to all the trouble of getting this book, and now you don't even want it?"

_"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot."_

"Ya think? I mean, threatening somebody's girlfriend isn't a great way to make friends."

_"What if I could show you how to do things normal people only dream of?"_

That caught his attention. "Like what?"

_"Come outside, and I'll show you."_

He walked outside, though he didn't know how the voice would be getting out there. Once he did, he stood for a moment before inquiring "Ya still there?"

_"Of course,"_ came the voice. _"Do you see that rock over there?"_

"Yeah."

_"Just let me have control for a second…"_ The rock lifted into the air, and floated towards his hand.

"Whoa!!" He was stunned. "How'd you do that?"

_"I have the ability to manipulate the zero-point energy field. That, however, is far beyond your ability to understand. Suffice it to say that I can do amazing and incredible things… but I need a physical conduit. __Hence, why I came to you."_

He smirked. "So in other words, to do all this really cool stuff, you need me. But I'd need you to make use of all that cool stuff. What are you suggesting?"

_"I suggest we establish a working relationship. You provide the physical conduit, and I provide the power. Together, we can accomplish far more than you ever dreamed possible. So, what do you say?"_

He thought for a moment. "Can you do other stuff? Like, maybe, destroy that tree?"

_"Without difficulty.__ Control, if you please."_

Nothing happened.

"What's going on?"

_"You're not allowing me full control. I need to be able to control your hands as well as your energy."_

"Fine."

His hands, seemingly of their own accord, lifted into the air. They wove a complicated pattern, eventually cupping around an invisible ball. The space between his palms filled with a black fire, and suddenly, he felt his hands being thrown out in the direction of the indicated tree. The sphere of black fire traversed the distance in a second, blasting the tree to toothpicks.

"Whoa!!! Now _that's_ power!" He was truly impressed. "What else could we do?"

_"For the moment, I'm going to do nothing. I need more power. Just this insignificant display of ability has left me somewhat drained. What needs to be done involves that book I had you purchase. I'm going to teach you some magic spells so that I don't have to do all the work."_

"Cool." Then he remembered something. "Wait, don't I have to have magical ability, or something?"

_"For the very basic spells, very small amounts of magical ability are all that is required. You have some, don't worry. And besides, I can serve as larger amounts in the event we need it. The first spell I am going to teach you is called an Illusion. Here's how it works…"_

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How'd you like that chapter? It's longer, has multiple sub-plots, and builds the suspense while at the same time revealing more of the storyline. I'm sure you all had the italics figure figured out (no pun intended), but in case you didn't, now you know. For anyone who read Duality and wanted Tylan to come back, well, here he is. You're welcome.

Please, please, PLEASE review. I HATE going through a week with no reviews on my current chapter. It makes me feel like nobody's reading my story, and I hate that.


	9. Chapter 7 Reconciliation

Disclaimer: Don't own the Teen Titans, yadda yadda.

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Raven looked up into Tylan's eyes, startled. How could he not remember her? He did, after all, die saving her. How could you not remember that?

He saw her hurt look, and quickly moved to explain. "I met your mother. When I died. I don't know her name, but she said she was sending me back because I couldn't pass on into the afterlife. Something about not having light or dark halves. So she sent me back, told me that I loved her daughter, which would be you, but also told me that I wouldn't remember any of my past life."

"So… how do you know I'm the daughter? I am, but how did you know?" Raven was puzzled.

"Well… when you ran up to me, hugging me and telling me you loved me, and seeing how you looked so much like your mother, I managed to put the pieces together." He paused. "Is Tylan really my name?"

"Yes," she breathed. "It is." Then she stepped back and looked me up and down. She put out her hand. "I suppose I should have introduced myself, seeing as it's like we've never met. I'm Raven."

"Raven…" he whispered. He liked the way it rolled off his tongue. He took her hand. "And I suppose I'm Tylan. Nice to meet you."

"So…" It was an awkward question. "I know, in your past life, you loved me. I still love you, but…" she hesitated, as if afraid to ask the question. "…do you love me _now_?"

"I…" he paused. "I don't know. I've barely met you, at least, this time around." He opened his mouth, as if to say more, but then recalled another detail the woman in the white city had given him. "Your mother said that… that you could unlock my memory. How?"

"I have an idea…" she pulled him down by his collar…

_And if I kiss you like this…_

_And if you whisper like that…_

_It was lost long ago, but it's all coming back to me._

_And if you want me like this…_

_And if you need me like that…_

_It was dead long ago, but it's all coming back to me,_

_It's so hard to resist, and it's all coming back to me,_

_I can barely recall, but it's all coming back to me now…_

The memories flooded back, a tidal wave of experiences, recollections and emotions.

His name.

His first kiss.

The day he met Raven.

Their first kiss.

His fight to defend her from Slade.

His death.

Everything came rushing back so fast he pulled away from her, dazed and startled.

"What's wrong?" Raven looked concerned.

"I… I remember," was all he said.

It was all he needed to say.

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After hours and hours of practice, the young man was completely worn out. "I can't do it!" he screamed in frustration. "I can't perform a simple spell!"

_"That's because your initial attempt made you too frustrated to concentrate. Calm down, and try again."_

He gritted his teeth. He was beginning to hate the infuriatingly calm voice that had invaded his thoughts and now essentially ruled his life. But he focused on the higher goal: being able to perform feats that would leave everyone he knew astounded. _Power_, he thought, _it's all about power._

He took a very deep breath, emptied his mind, and focused all his attention on the spell he was supposed to chant. "_Nerezia__Fyrion__Necros__Illos__quatara__gamelgia__!"_

This time it worked. He felt the icy coldness of the Illusion wrapping around him, changing his appearance. He looked at himself in the mirror, and he jumped at what he saw. He bore an exact resemblance to Raven o f the Teen Titans. Then his memory jogged, and he realized that he had seen her at the bookstore earlier that day.

"Well… aside from being a girl, this is pretty cool. At least she's hot," he said, admiring the figure he had adopted.

_"The point is not to be cool. The point is to achieve our objective. Now, dispense the illusion so we can travel undetected. We need to go to the cemetery."_

"Are you gonna raise more zombies? What is with you and zombies, anyway?"

"_They serve as a nearly indestructible tool. They inspire fear, upon which I can feed for power, and, ultimately, they feast on life. Because they do so, I can in turn take that life energy from them and use it to become more powerful. __Or to create more undead minions."_

"So what you're saying is you need life force to make zombies."

_"Precisely."_

"How do you plan on doing that? That whole 'blow up the tree' thing left you tired, and I can barely stand after performing that illusion."

The voice chuckled. _"What you didn't know is that my workers have been busy. I've ordered them to consume the lives of the weak and helpless. So far, they've succeeded. That's why we need to go to the cemetery; they will meet us there, and I can absorb the life they have so willingly gathered for me."_

"Well, I suppose that would work… but is it really necessary to do all that?"

_"Absolutely.__ No price is too high for power; something you would do well to learn."_

"So… what's the plan? I mean, after we hit the cemetery and meet up with the zombies?"

_"We'll be infiltrating the Titans' Tower with your Illusion and a distraction, courtesy of my undead friends."_

"What for?"

_"That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Suffice it to say, I trained you to use the Illusion on your own, because for a short period of time, I'll have to leave you in order to acquire what I seek. You'll need to hold the Illusion during that period of time."_

"How am I going to do that?"

_"Like I said, we're going to 'fill up' at the life force station, so to speak. We'll both benefit from this."_

"If you say so…"

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Ok, so I know it's a bit weird, but what do you think? Oh, and I also don't own "All Coming Back to Me Now." That belongs to Jim Steinman, as performed by Pandora's Box, Celine Dion, and/or Meat Loaf. In any case, I'd like to point out that while the first half of the evil guy's mantra is based on the Trinity mantras (such as Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos), the second half is needed, because it further defines what the spell is supposed to do. Remember, he's not skilled in magic, so he needs all the control help he can get.

Please rate and review. Right now, I have roughly 30 times the number of hits as I have reviews. That means that for every review, there are 29 people who read this, and don't review! That makes me sad. So please, if you even make it this far, review!

Also, this chapter makes very little sense unless you've read my prequel, Duality. Read it, it's pretty good, even if I do say so myself.


	10. Chapter 8 Deception

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own the Teen Titans! insert collective gasp here

Beast Boy sighed and shut off the gamestation. Cyborg wasn't playing, as he was out in the garage working on his "baby." Robin was busy beating up a punching bag while Starfire watch and fawned on him. Raven was out for the day; she'd said she was taking a walk. Beast Boy was _bored_; after all, you could only play so much Mega Monkeys 5 by yourself before it got old. He got up from the couch, and was going to go up to his room and take a nap, but a loud clang resounded from the door downstairs.

He used the elevator to reach the bottom floor, at which point, the clanging became louder, more insistent. "All right, already, I'm comin'!" he groused. He opened the door…

…and found himself staring into a rotting face.

Beast Boy let out a scream and morphed into a flying monkey, flapping his wings furiously to take off for the elevator. The zombie let out a loud moan, which was echoed by the dozens of others around it. They shuffled forward, taking the atrium while Beast Boy sealed the elevator and rocketed upward.

Beast Boy burst from the elevator and ran screaming down the hallways, waving his arms frantically. "Guys! Guys! They're back! The zombies are back!!!"

Cyborg poked his head out of his room, having migrated there while Beast Boy was downstairs. "What?!?" he shouted. He barged into the hallway, his cannon already out and warming up.

Robin likewise sprinted from his room to the elevator, a birdarang already in his hand. Starfire flew to the elevator door, and all four stood, waiting in silent dread for the undead to come swarming through the door.

The elevator rose… they could hear it. They tensed, Cyborg aiming his cannon, Robin readying his birdarangs, and Starfire's eyes glowing green. It stopped, hesitated, and the door slid open…

… to reveal a very annoyed-looking Raven.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked.

"Rae… Raven?" queried Beast Boy.

"No, it's the muffin man. Of course it's me." Raven replied in her famous monotone.

"What… how did you… with the… where are the zombies?" asked Beast Boy incredulously.

Raven gave him an odd look. "What zombies?"

"The zombies that were downstairs!"

"There was nothing downstairs."

"But… but… I saw them!!"

Raven sighed. "Look, I don't know _what_ you think you saw, but there are no zombies down there. And I'll thank you to not mention them again." She sidestepped past him, and headed down the main corridor.

"Raven, where are you going?" asked Starfire.

"To my room. I have to… meditate." Raven replied quickly before turning and walking swiftly down the hallway.

The other three Titans turned to glare at Beast Boy. "Man, you got us all worked up over nothin'? I oughta kick your butt!" complained Cyborg.

"Dude! I'm telling you! There were zombies down there! A whole swarm of them!"

"Stop arguing, friends. Please?" Starfire's petitions fell on deaf ears, as the argument between the two Titans escalated.

"_STOP!!!!_" Robin's frustrated shout echoed in the main room. "I'll go down and see."

"Oh. Ok," said a stunned Cyborg.

Robin stormed into the elevator, muttering something incoherent under his breath. He punched the button for the ground floor, and waited as the escalator descended.

The door opened, and he stepped out. The front door was wide open, but Robin could see no ghouls anywhere. He sighed at Beast Boy's overactive imagination, then went to close the front door.

The last thing he felt was a pair of cold, clammy hands clamp down on his mouth.

The last thing he did was what saved him. He pressed the alarm on his communicator.

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Cyborg, who was directly linked to the Tower's emergency system, was the first to react to Robin's distress call. "Aw, man, Robin's in trouble! Let's get down there, everyone!"

In their hurry, the Titans forgot about Raven, who was in her room looking for a specific book. As she dug through the trunk, she found a white book. Smirking to herself, she opened it.

_"Good… good! I'm going to have to leave you now. Hopefully the Titans will be distracted enough to not notice you missing."_

Raven's image shimmered and melted, changing back into the nervous young man.

"Look, man, hurry up. I can't hold that Illusion for very long."

_"I know. And while you're being otherwise useless, I want you to go to the kitchen and eat as much food as you can. You'll need it. We both will. Now go!"_

The young man did as the voice commanded, running down the hallway after re-casting the Illusion spell. He opened the fridge, and recoiled at a still-moving gelatinous substance. He instead turned to some leftover pizza, and wolfed it down. He grabbed a soda and chugged it, then sprinted back to the dark room.

_"I need control,"_ said the voice urgently. _"We don't have time to do what I wanted to do here. I need to teleport us out of here."_

"Ok, fine." He picked up the book, then let his mind empty, and felt the familiar chill of the disembodied voice taking control. The next thing he knew, he was gone in a flash of black flame.

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Sorry it's a short chapter, but I need to save the action all for one chapter.

Please read, and review. Actually, you've already read, so just review, please.


	11. Chapter 9 Despair

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own the Teen Titans! (insert gasp of horror here).

Sorry the update took so long (at least, for those of you who care). Long story short, I was trying to make this short story long. (Ha! That was pretty clever, even if I do say so myself!)

Warning: this is a very long chapter, at least for my writing. I hope you enjoy it immensely. In the meantime, this makes zero sense unless you've read Duality. I mean, last chapter was bad, but this is terrible. So go read it first. Now. Then come back, and continue reading this marvelous story (sorry, a bit conceited there).

Anyway, please read, and then review. Not the other way around. Let the next chapter commence.

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The three Titans burst from the elevators, tensed and ready for battle. They saw Robin struggling against three zombies, one of which was clinging to his feet, the other holding his arms and the third had its hands around his neck, trying to simultaneously strangle and bite him. Robin fought with inhuman strength, his desperation pumping adrenaline through his veins. But no matter how hard he fought, he could not break the deathly hold of the ghouls.

Starfire rushed to his aid, hurling emerald starbolts from her hands, and unleashing green energy blasts from her eyes. The zombies were blasted off Robin, allowing him just enough time to draw his staff before they were back on him. While the atrium held a few dozen zombies, Cyborg could see that outside was at least a hundred more. And while the undead were not that dangerous in small groups, this mass of howling corpses presented a very real threat to the Titans.

Cyborg was dragged under the writhing horde of reanimated bodies, but being metal, was immune to their bites… mostly. He threw several ghouls off of him, only to have more take their place. Eventually, one managed to bite his human neck, and drained his life force slowly, his screams echoing throughout the atrium.

Robin and Starfire fought their way through the crowd of zombies, striving to reach their fallen friend. But by the time they beat the undead back, Cyborg was gone, the look on his shriveled face one of sheer terror.

Sorrow overwhelmed the two, but they continued to fight against the horde of ghouls, now refreshed by having fed on the life of a victim.

Beast Boy was in a world of his own. He was a flurry of claws and fangs. One moment he was a wolf, raking his claws down the face of one zombie, the next, he was darting through the air as a hummingbird, only to transform into an elephant, crushing several ghouls beneath his feet.

But at seeing his best friend dead by the zombies' own ravaged hands, the beast inside him took over. His uniform stretched and tore as he metamorphosed into his primal form. He tore through the crowd of ghouls, knocking them left and right, ripping arms from sockets, tearing heads from necks. He was a whirlwind of fury, and there was no force on earth that was going to stop him.

Beast Boy killed and ravaged and destroyed until nothing was left but his two remaining friends. After collapsing as exhaustion finally came over him, he felt Robin and Starfire helping him up.

"Dude… I can't believe he's gone…" Beast Boy whispered, staring at Cyborg's corpse.

"We'll have to press on," said Robin. "It's what he'd want us to do."

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The young man was back in his room. His dark, gloomy room. He held a book in his hands, a white one, one that looked so ancient it might fall apart under his fingers.

The voice spoke. _"Set the book in the middle of the room."_

He did so, then paused. "What's next?" he asked.

_"We're going to free the spirit inside the book."_

"What?" he shouted before he could stop himself. He calmed, then asked, "There's a spirit inside the book?"

_"Why do you think we recovered this specific book?"_

"I don't know. Maybe there were more spells in it. You never tell me anything that you're going to do."

_"That's because you don't need to know."_

"No, I'm drawing the line. Unless you tell me what we… _you're_ up to, I won't cooperate."

Silence.

"You still there?"

_"Yes."_

"So, what's the skinny?"

_"Let's compromise. I will let you know what we are going to do ahead of time. I won't tell you why. It's imperative that the mission be kept secret, and I can't have you leaking information to the wrong people."_

"I wouldn't do something like that."

_"I know you wouldn't, at least, not purposely, but I can't take the risk. Do you want the power, or don't you?"_

Thoughts of his school rivals cowering in fear before him filled his head, and he nodded. "I do. That's fair; I just want to know what we're doing."

_"It's a deal."_

"All right." He knelt by the book. "How do we do this?"

_"This is when I'll be needing control."_

"Oh." He cleared his mind, and faded into blackness.

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_I looked down at the book, now in complete control over the boy's body. Oh, what I could do with it… but not yet. Not yet…_

_I opened the book, and chanted a spell, and as soon as I was finished, I found a pair of eyes staring out at me from the book. A silky, soothing voice filled my head._

"So…"_ it asked. _"How can I be of service?"

_"I'm here to free you." I said. "I need your help."_

"Oh?" _asked the voice. _"And what exactly do you need my help for?"

_"Don't get any ideas, dragon." I said back. The eyes widened. "Yes, I know what you are. Don't __worry,__ I won't kill you… yet."_

_The voice laughed._ "And what makes you think you could kill me?"

_"Don't try me. Besides, I don't want to kill you. I want you to do a favor for me in return for your freedom."_

"I'm listening" _replied the dragon._

_And then I explained everything to him. Well, everything except the part where I would defeat and absorb him. He didn't need to know that yet. He'd know soon enough anyway._

"Hmm… so you're going to free me, and in return you want me to do what I would do anyway?" _asked the puzzled dragon. _"It seems unfair. I have to give you something else in return."

_"Alright, then.__ In that case, I'm going to ask you to help me defeat Slade. He's the one obstacle in my quest for world domination."_

"Oh, really?" _said the dragon_. "What about me?"

_In my mind, I said "Because before this is all over, I'll be assimilating you." Out loud, however, I replied, "We'll rule together. __As a team."__Which was technically true, since he'd be part of me._

"Marveloussss," _the dragon hissed. _"At last I shall have my revenge!"

_I smiled. He would have his revenge all right. And I would have mine. The only difference being I would live to see my vengeance completed._

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Tylan's eyes filled with tears as he held the now-sobbing Raven. She was overwhelmed with joy, astonishment, and love, all at once. Her true love was back from the dead, and he _remembered_ her! Her heart raced and pounded in her chest as he pulled her closer.

But the heart-gripping moment was interrupted by an explosion. As Raven explored the source, she froze. She knew that mental touch; she knew what was wreaking this havoc: a being she had re-bound a few years ago, a being that she had thought she loved.

Malchior was loose.

"It's Malchior!" she said, pulling away from Tylan.

"Who's Malchior?" he asked, and she feared for a moment he had lost his memory. But then she realized she had never told him about the dragon that had crushed her heart.

"It's a long story, but to make it short, he's an evil dragon, and I bound him inside a book, but now he's loose…" Then fear seized her. "If he's loose, then someone—or something—must have invaded the tower! My friends!" she cried, then turned to go.

"Wait!" Tylan called after her. But she was gone in a flash of blackness. "…I can't fly," he finished. Then he thought again. Maybe he could…

Raven appeared back at the tower, in her room, only to find everything in order. No enormous hole where the dragon would have escaped, no enemies swarming the halls. She made her way to the main room, and found Starfire crying, with Robin comforting her and Beast Boy standing, vacant-eyed, in the corner.

She could feel the sorrow and dread hanging in the room. "What happened?"

Robin turned to her and gaped. "What do you mean, what happened? Didn't you hear the enormous commotion downstairs? Why weren't you there helping us?"

Raven turned red at his accusation. "First of all, I wasn't in the Tower; I was across town. Second of all, you know that if I were here, then I'd be helping you. So what happened?"

Robin's face grew white. "You weren't here? But… we saw you come up in the elevator. You went to your room…"

"Robin. I never use the elevator. I just arrived in my room. I…" Raven stopped as she put the pieces together. "Whoever it was, they were impersonating me. And they were after the book!"

Beast Boy broke his silence. "What book?"

Raven turned to him. "You remember; Malchior's book."

Beast Boy would have paled, had he not been green. "Great! First, we get attacked by zombies, then they kill Cyborg, and now a psycho dragon's on the loose! How could this day get ANY worse?"

Raven's mouth dropped. "They… did what?"

Beast Boy's face hardened. "They killed Cyborg. They bit him, and sucked the life right out of him." He turned away. "And then I killed them. I killed them all."

Raven's head spun. She just couldn't take anymore of this shock. She stumbled to her room, and sat down on the bed.

_Think… think! There has got to be a common factor. Zombies attack the tower, an impostor posing as me goes to my room and steals __Malchior's__ book. The zombies kill one of my friends, and now __Malchior__ is loose. There's only one person who could want revenge on me that badly._

_Slade._

Raven heard a roaring noise, and expecting to see Malchior's malevolent gaze staring back at her, she was surprised to see Tylan, right outside her window.

She rushed to the window and opened it. "How are you…?" she looked down. "Oh!" she exclaimed. He was riding on his jet bike. But how did you…"

"Don't ask questions. Just get on the bike. Where did you put my suit after I died?" he asked as she climbed aboard.

"I…" she struggled to recall. She had tried to push that out of her mind. "I think we buried you in it. It just wouldn't come off. Except the helmet of course."

"All right." He revved the engine, and they took off into the night, Raven clinging desperately to his back as they roared over the city towards the graveyard. In the distance, Raven could see Malchior lighting fire to the city. No doubt he wanted to lure her and the Titans out, and then destroy them all. She had only beaten him last time by locking him inside the book, and she didn't have that anymore.

"But wait!" she shouted in his ear. "Why don't you have it if you were resurrected?"

"I'm not sure. I don't fully understand everything about it yet, either, but the point is, we have to get to the cemetery _now._" He rolled the bike on its side, then dove toward the ground.

Raven recognized the cemetery from her nightmares, and fittingly enough, the one in which Tylan had until recently been buried. He slammed the bike down hard, the cushion of thrust generated by the jet engine the only thing that kept the both of them from becoming paste.

He sprinted between the gravestones, recalling from his memory where he had woken up that sunny day. He paused as he saw a dark figure standing over his grave, undead minions crawling from adjacent tombs to assist their master.

_"Finally!__ I will return to my body and I will end this pitiful city once and for all!" _screamed the figure.

_What? _Tylan thought. _Why is he standing over my grave? If that's where his body is, then that must be me… but how can that be?_

Chunks of earth broke from the ground and swirled through the air, surrounding the dark master.

Raven caught up a moment later, only to halt as Tylan silently put up a hand, indicating to wait and watch.

Finally, all the earth lying on top of the coffin in which Tylan had been buried was removed. As the dark figure levitated the coffin up in front of him, his red eyes glittered in anticipation.

And then he opened the casket.

_"What!?!?" _screamed the shadow. _"It can't be! Where is the body?"_

Tylan stepped out. "I assume you mean me."

The shadow gaped, completely at a loss for words.

Tylan smirked. "Let me guess… you're wondering how on earth I was raised from the dead. Well, you ought to know… you were there, after all."

"Slade?" gasped Raven.

"Nope," replied Tylan. "My dark side."

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Oh no! Evil cliffy! Whatever will you do?

Review, that's what!

Please, please, PLEASE read and review. I know I say this at the end of every chapter, but I usually get one review before this leaves the first two pages, and then it's no more reviews until I update. Which is bogus.


	12. Chapter 10 Distraction

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Teen Titans. Duh.

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Malchior took another breath and torched yet another building. He had to admit that while at first, the thrill of being free and destroying things was intoxicating, it wore off fairly quickly without a real adversary. But the man who had freed him had ordered him to distract the Titans and lure out Raven by attacking the city. Because the Titans knew only of the dark dragon, they would immediately assume that he was the largest danger out there. Malchior knew otherwise. In his mental conversation with the dark man, he had tested his opponent's power levels, and was astonished. The man could truly back up his claim to kill Malchior, and now the dragon knew it. The only course of action was to wait until he was off guard, and kill him then.

But for now, the dragon played along, following orders. He crushed a few cars with his claws, then flapped his enormous wings, and a hurricane-force wind blew the windows out of every vehicle and building within a three-block radius.

What was taking the Titans so long to respond? Normally, they'd have been at the scene in two minutes or less, but ten had already passed without a sign of the superhero team. Malchior was disappointed, especially because he had been looking forward to confronting sweet Raven again.

_Ah, finally_, he thought, as he saw the approaching shapes coming from the island in the bay. _The Teen Titans have come to play…_ He roared, a challenge to the approaching heroes, and then took off into the air. He sped toward them, readying a stream of fire.

The orange girl threw the boy in red towards him, a human projectile traveling nearly as fast as Malchior himself was flying. Malchior barely had time to see the boy throw several projectiles, then draw a sword. The disks exploded, barely singeing Malchior's diamond-hard scales, and even with his full force behind it, the boy's sword did no more than tickle the dragon's nose.

The orange girl hurled green energy balls at him, yet these did little more than the boy's explosives. Malchior exhaled, a tempest of flame, and the alien went flying through the air before crashing into a building.

That was two of them… but where were the other three? One of them was suddenly accounted for as the green changeling appeared above him as a hawk, then suddenly morphed into a tyrannosaurus, which came crashing down on Malchior's back, its sharp teeth seeking to puncture the impenetrable scales coating the dark dragon's body.

Malchior twisted violently in midair, hurling Beast Boy to the ground. He scanned the immediate area for Raven and the mechanical Titan, but neither was anywhere to be seen.

While he was looking around, Beast Boy had turned into a humming bird and flown above the oblivious dragon. He suddenly had an idea, but it would require perfect timing. He positioned himself directly above Malchior, and then metamorphosed into a blue whale. The dragon never knew what hit him.

Dragon and whale came crashing to the gournd… or, more accurately, the dragon crashed into the ground, while the whale leapt away at the last moment, no longer a whale but a small green boy. He morphed once again into his primal form, and sprang at the dragon now struggling to get up.

"I'm gonna kill you!" roared the dragon. The green animal growled in response, then slashed his razor-sharp claws at the dragon's eyes. Malchior dodged just in time, and attempted to strike back by crushing the beast between his mighty jaws, but Beast Boy was too quick. Regardless of how he slashed and tore, however, nothing penetrated the dragon's impervious hide.

_Malchior_ A voice in the dragon's head shouted.

_I'm busy now! _the dragon shouted back mentally.

_Forget the other Titans! Raven's here! If you want your revenge, it's here, where I am._

The dragon growled to himself, hating to back down from a fight. But there were more important things to do right now, and so with a flap of his gargantuan wings, he took off toward the graveyard.

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The shadow turned to face Tylan and Raven, the horde of zombies in the background still struggling to free themselves from their earthen prison. As the shadow-man stepped into the dim moonlight, Tylan saw that he had a human body, and what was more, he believed he recognized the boy.

"Tierce? Is that you, man?" Tylan asked in disbelief.

"You know him?" Raven practically screamed.

"Yeah, or at least, I thought I did. This guy was on the football team with me, but I guess he's been possessed by my dark side."

Tierce chuckled. "_We__ are now Tierce. I control the boy's body, and in return I fight his battles. He provides me with life energy; I use it to its maximum potential."_ He smirked. "_It's really quite a nice arrangement we have."_

"I wonder what Tierce would have to say about that," answered Tylan. He clenched his fists. "Now, surrender to me!"

Tierce's chuckle became an outright laugh. "_You must be joking! You're powerless! Even if you did come back from the dead, you still have no powers!"_

Raven put her hand on Tylan's shoulder. "Is this true?" she asked.

He hung his head. "Yes. That's why I was hoping to get to my armor before he did; so I might have a fighting chance." He looked deep into her eyes, and his voice echoed loud and clear in her head. _I need you to distract him long enough for me to get my armor on._

_Right._ She cleared her throat. "You've really fallen quite far, Tierce, or maybe I should say Tylan. I'm not sure; which are you?"

Tierce glared at her. "_My name is not __Tylan__! I am no longer a part of him! He's weak and powerless, and even when he __wasn't,__ he wanted no part of me. Now that I'm free, I want nothing to do with him!__"_

"I see." Raven's hands glowed with black energy, and her eyes shone a mysterious phosphorescent white. "In that case, I'll just have to kill you."

Gravestones were uprooted from their places, and Raven hurled them at the dark shadow-like man. Before the lethal stone projectiles could strike their intended target, several undead lurched in front of the headstones, intercepting them and deflecting them away from Tierce. He then gestured at the ground beneath her feet, and black magic shot from his hands. Almost immediately, two rotting hands sprung up from the ground and grabbed Raven's feet. She pulled her feet from the gruesome grip of the rising corpse, and blasted it to bits with pure magic. Her fear and rage lent her power, but she was beginning to lose control again.

_"Kill her." _Tierce hissed at the zombies, who shambled to do his bidding. What he didn't see was Tylan rummaging through the now-abandoned casket, finally pulling out the armor he had sought. The next thing the dark man knew, he was being hit like never before, sailing through the air before crushing several headstones before skidding to a halt.

Tylan flexed his hand, and clenched it into a fist, his body now sheathed in the armor that had once made him so dangerous. "Well, I guess it still works pretty well."

_"I wouldn't be too sure of that, little human," _a booming voice came from overhead.

Malchior had arrived.

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So, how did you like it? It gets even cooler, believe it or not. So keep reading, and please, for God's sake, review if you read it! I don't care if you comment on old or new chapters, or leave three words, just DO IT!! Please.


	13. Chapter 11 Destruction

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans. I own my OC's, the storyline, and a bunch of other things that have nothing to do with this story. That being said, on with the chapter!!

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Raven gasped at the sight of the dragon that she had hoped would never be released. Fear, sorrow, anger, and heartbreak simultaneously struck her and brought her to her knees.

Malchior laughed, a cruel laugh that chilled Tylan and caused him to shiver. _"Dear, sweet Raven",_ the dragon whispered. _"There's really no need to kneel. I'm not here for you to submit to me; I'm here to kill you."_

Raven looked up, her eyes full of defiance. "You can try to kill me, but I guarantee you, _you_ will die today. Whether or not I do as well is immaterial; as long as you're dead, I'm happy.

_"__Tsk__tsk__,"_ replied the dragon. _"No need for such hatred. After all, I'm just doing what dragons do best. Manipulate, kill and destroy. But then again, are we so different? Your entire existence is but a means to bring destruction upon the whole earth. Compared to me, YOU are the monster."_

"Shut up!" Raven screamed, holding her head in her hands. The truth had a terrible ring to it, and try as she might, she couldn't deny Malchior's words.

Malchior's head erupted in a blue explosion. When the smoke cleared from the dragon's eyes, he saw the unfamiliar human standing in front of his victim.

"Damn you!" This shout came from Tylan, whose hands now glowed with blue energy. "If you want her, you'll have to come through me!"

The dragon hissed in amusement. _"I suppose you think you have a chance to stop me? Very well then, a duel is what I propose. __You against me.__ No interference."_

_"__Malchior__!"_ hissed Tierce. _"That's not what you're here to do! You're here to kill Raven, not the worm!"_

Raven stood, and shouted, "If that's what you want, then fine!" She turned to Tylan. "You take Tierce, I'll take Malchior. It's a closer match that way. Besides, I don't think I could kill a human, particularly a possessed one. A dragon is a different story."

"All right then." Tylan pulled off his helmet, and pulled Raven in for a quick kiss. "Be careful."

"You too," she said, before turning to the dragon.

Tylan turned to the dark incarnation of himself, and put his helmet back on. "Well then, shall we begin?"

Tierce glared back at him. _"I thought you were powerless! You said so yourself!"_

Tylan grinned, but the effect was lost due to his helmet. "I guess I lied. Oh well." His fists once again glowed with blue light, while his counterpart's burned with black flame.

Raven glared at the dragon, her eyes white, and her fists black. "I won't let you hurt anyone else. You hurt me, but that's where it stops."

_"How touching… Raven loves the worthless human."_ The dragon snickered. "_Not that it means anything. You both die here."_

The dragon inhaled, then released a torrent of flames at Raven, who was no longer where she had been. She was flying high above the battlefield, hurling balls of black energy at the dark dragon, but to no avail. Just as before, her attacks were useless against Malchior's iron-hard hide.

They fought back and forth for several minutes, each giving, neither taking.

Tylan, meanwhile was doing rather well against his dark counterpart. They traded blows, each lethal to an ordinary human, but no more than a glancing blow to the two behemoths. The two finally parted, their chests heaving with exertion.

"I had no idea you'd be so powerful, _Tierce,_" called Tylan in between breaths.

_"While I'm loath to compliment you, I must admit that you've put up a better fight than I initially expected."_ Tierce glared at Tylan. _"But nonetheless, you _will_ lose this battle."_

"Bring it," replied the armor-clad man, and sprayed a stream of liquid metal into his hand, which quickly formed a hardened, unbreakable blade.

They rushed at each other, Tierce nimbly dodging the lightning-fast strokes of the psitanium morph-blade. He brought a blazing uppercut to Tylan's head, sending him soaring across the graveyard, toward where Raven was just touching down, her energy shield barely holding against the dragon's constant stream of fire.

They backed up, until they were back to back. "How are you doing?" shouted Tylan.

"Not good!" She shouted in reply.

"On three, we switch!" he suggested. "One, two, three!" The two quickly pivoted around, each now facing the other's opponent. Tylan let forth an enormous burst of blue energy which burrowed through the river of flame flowing from Malchior's mouth. It struck the dark dragon, bowling him over, and crushing several nearby buildings.

Raven, on the other hand, levitated several headstones and other, smaller stones, and hurled them at Tierce, the headstones leading. He dodged those with ease, but was broadsided by the hail of high-speed pebbles.

The two villains returned to their feet, each glowering at their new adversary. The fight resumed; this time, however, the element of surprise was gone, and so Tylan and Raven returned to their original opponents.

Tierce produced several zombies from the ground, which held Tylan in place while Tierce beat him to near-unconsciousness. After the man in armor collapsed, Tierce turned to watch the battle unfolding between Malchior and Raven.

The two were nearly evenly matched, but Raven's powers required concentration and energy, while Malchior seemed to have a nearly endless supply of magic. Eventually her defenses wore down by attrition, and a final burst of flame sent her tumbling to the ground.

The dragon swooped down from his place in the sky, and bent over Raven's motionless body. _"At last!__ She is mine! __Mine to consume and to exact revenge upon!"_

But just as he opened his mouth, and the barely-conscious Tylan thought all was lost, another river of fire struck the dragon from the entrance to the graveyard. Standing there was a tall, dark man, clad in black, whose mask was half black and half orange.

"Wrong, dragon," intoned Slade in his deadly calm voice. "She is mine." He held up the Kryshna gem, the amulet which had brought about Tylan's demise the time before. "I will strip the light side from her, and use her as my Dark Mistress, and rule the world!"

_"No! She is mine! Master Tierce promised her to me!" _Malchior gave Slade his deadliest glare. _"I will not be stopped by the likes of you, human!"_

"Oh no?" The statement was more challenge than question. "Then let's see what you've got, dragon!" He pulled his staff from his belt, extended it, and projected fire over its length. He then leapt into the air, swinging his staff with all his might.

Slade was so quick Malchior had no time to react, and before he knew it he was crashing to the ground, beset by blows on every side. Slade was too fast to see, and physically stronger than any human had a right to be. After three minutes, the dragon lay vanquished but alive on the ground.

Slade heard a clapping sound coming from the other end of the cemetery. "_Very good, Slade, very good.__ I was worrying about how to dispose of the dragon once I was finished with him, but you've done the job for me. __Marvelous__, marvelous__."_

"What are you talking about? You're the one who set the dragon on Raven. Why do you want him defeated?" Slade had turned toward Tierce by this time, and his fists clenched as he realized that this was the mastermind behind the chaos erupting throughout the city.

"_You aren't the only one who wants her, Slade."_ Tierce cocked his head, looking at Slade from a new angle. _"You mean to tell me you haven't __figure__ it out yet?"_

"Afraid not. Not that it matters. I'm going to take her as my own, and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me." He aimed the amulet at the fallen Raven. "Guess you lose."

The amulet flew out of Slade's hand and across the cemetery, landing on the ground and skidding to a halt. Tierce's hand turned from Slade to Malchior, and black fire emanated from it.

The black fire surrounded the dragon, whose eyes widened. _"Master Tierce! What are you doing?"_

_"I'm keeping my word." _The black fire started to dissolve the dragon, whose brilliant energy began to flow from his body to Tierce. _"I told you we would rule together, and rule together we will. I just never told you we'd be doing it as one entity."_

Slade watched in shock as the last remnants of the dragon were absorbed into Tierce's hands. _"And now, Slade, now that I have all of the dragon's power, you'd be foolish to oppose me. Hand over the amulet, and I'll let you live."_

Slade laughed. "You can't kill me anyway. I'm immortal. Or didn't you know?"

Tierce smirked. "_Well, then, you'll have to prove it!"_ He charged the still-laughing Slade.

Tylan watched in sheer amazement as the two supervillains faced off. While Slade was definitely quicker than Tierce, and stronger physically, Tierce had the benefit of countless life energies, and had a much deeper understanding of magic.

Tierce chose to remain back, on the defensive, waiting for a strike to counterstrike, while Slade struck again and again, patiently waiting for Tierce to tire. It took about twenty minutes, but eventually, the orange-and-black adorned villain stood panting, several feet away from the barely winded Tierce.

_"I really must admire your courage and skill. All the more reason to assimilate you." _Tierce gestured at the ground far away, and the amulet flew to his hand. _"But I've come to realize that there's only one way to get what I want from you."_ He pointed the Kryshna gem at Slade, and a familiar black-and-white beam burst from it, overtaking Slade.

After the light faded, Slade's body lay motionless on the ground, while a black cloud hovered over it. Tierce walked deliberately over to the cloud, and breathed it in.

Slade was no more.

As Tylan looked on helplessly, Tierce picked up the unconscious Raven, and slung her over his shoulder. _"Just one more thing before I am truly __master__ of the darkness…"_ Tierce took off into the night, heading for the tallest building in the town.

_God, no! I just got her back! I can't lose her now!_ Tylan struggled to his feet, with the utmost of effort. But he had forgotten one crucial detail.

The graveyard was still full of undead.

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Wow! What an awesome chapter! I really hope you liked it; I worked for a couple days to get it right.

Anyway, review. Review, review, review. I like reviews. They make me happy. Then I feel like writing more, and that makes you happy (at least, I hope it does!).


	14. Chapter 12 Explanation

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, yadda yadda…

This chapter is somewhat short, at least compared to the last few, but I can't really do anything else, because all the action is in the next three chapters. You'll like them, trust me. This is mostly a Q&A session; a lot of unanswered questions are answered in the dialogue, so pay attention.

Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review!

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Tylan looked around at the horde of zombies now surrounding him, their moans penetrating even the audio blockers in his helmets. _I can't take them all on in the condition I'm in! I'm screwed!_

Nevertheless, it had to be done. Someone had to save Raven, and nobody else in the city was capable. He summoned his morph-blade, which had fallen from his hand to melt into a puddle of liquid psitanium again, and re-formed it into two long daggers.

_If I'm __gonna__ go, it'll be fighting, like Raven would want. Like how she would go._ He hardened his resolve, preparing himself for his imminent death. Taking a deep breath, he shouted a battlecry, then lunged at the crowd of risen corpses.

He decapitated ghoul after ghoul, striking time after time, each stroke a lethal one. But no matter how many he killed, more came, and each seemed more powerful than the last. _I'm wearing down… I'm __gonna__ die…_ The woman's words came back to him. _"You will know," she said. "Also, your other task is to find your two halves and unite with them again. Until you do, you cannot die, for we cannot take you back. That would create a conundrum that would rip open the fabric of space and time." _That caught his attention. _I must NOT die! That would do far worse than anything Tierce could do!_

A hand grabbing him brought him back to reality, and with a burst of adrenaline, he hauled the reanimated body over his shoulder and hurled it into another in front of him. Desperation born out of his realization gave him strength he never knew he had. But before long, even that burned out, and he dropped to his knees, panting, awaiting the inevitable.

_What will happen to my soul? She said they couldn't take me back… and my death will cause the destruction of the entire universe…_ He shook his head, trying to clear it. _Just be calm. Your armor will protect you for a little while._

The undead had now latched onto him, and though they tried, their teeth failed to penetrate the thick plastic-metal polymer. They piled on top of him, and he knew it was the end. _They'll crush me to death. They don't need to bite me to kill me._

He heard a faint whirring noise, and in an instant, the pile of zombies was launched off his body. When Tylan looked up, he saw Robin aiming several more explosive disks at the scattered ghouls, which were scrambling to return to their fetid feet. Starfire hovered nearby, her eyes glowing an emerald green, while Beast Boy stood nearby, his hands clenched into fists, his eyes a maelstrom of fury and hate.

But the moment the three saw him, they stopped in shock. "Who are you?" shouted Robin, now pointing a birdarang at Tylan. "That's Tylan's suit! What are you doing in it? Where did you get it? Where's Raven?"

Tylan waved his hands, trying to calm the incensed boy down. "Look, let's worry about all that later. Let's just kill _them_—" he jerked his head at the approaching zombies—"first, and talk later."

"Your proposition is acceptable, impostor who wears friend Tylan's armor," said Starfire. She let loose a barrage of starbolts, joined by Robin's explosives. They ceased fire as Beast Boy morphed into his primal form yet again, and tore through the gathering of ghouls. When the dust cleared, Beast Boy stood triumphant over the bodies of his foes. He managed a faint grin.

"Guess I showed them."

Robin turned to Tylan. "All right, it's time for you to talk. Who are you?"

Tylan tugged off his helmet, and the three gasped in surprise. "But… but… dude!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "you were dead! I was there at your funeral, and your burial, and…" he trailed off.

Tylan began running downtown, and the three hurried to follow. "I'll explain on the way. Let's go."

As they caught up with him, he began. "I was dead. But something happened when I died… Slade had some sort of gem or amulet that stripped my light side from me. He was going to use it on Raven to make her completely dark, and make her serve him. But I thought he was going to kill her, so I stepped in front, and it took my light side instead. I don't know where it is, but my dark side somehow left my body too, and I went to the afterlife. But they couldn't judge me, because I didn't have a light or dark side to weigh, and so they sent me back to get them both." He paused. "I think I met Raven's mother, too."

They all stared at him, speechless. He shrugged in response. "Look, I can't explain it any better than that. I don't fully understand this whole deal yet, either, so we're both a little in the dark."

"So where's Raven?" Beast Boy's voice was hard.

"My dark side, which possessed another guy that I know, took her. After, that is, he absorbed Malchior and Slade."

"What!?" Robin yelled. "You mean he defeated Malchior _and_ Slade, and now he's got their powers too?"

Tylan nodded. "That's about the gist of it."

Their jaws dropped. "How are we gonna… how are we gonna beat him?" asked Beast Boy quietly.

Tylan shrugged again. "I don't know. I just know I'm the only one who's even close to having a chance. I need some time to rest. And I'm going to need a few other things, too." He looked around. "I need my bike. I left it back at the graveyard… if it wasn't destroyed in the battle." He turned to Robin. "You might want to call every Titan you've ever met and bring them here. It's gonna be messy." He pointed in the downtown direction. "He went that way. I'm going to get my bike. I'll catch up with you." He turned and sprinted back toward the cemetery.

The other three turned to each other. "I guess we don't really have a choice," proclaimed Robin.

"I trust friend Tylan. He saved friend Raven last time, and I believe we can trust him now." Starfire announced boldly.

"I don't know…" this from Beast Boy. "I mean, he stole a bunch of stuff from those companies, and then he 'saves' Raven, but we don't know anything but what he told us. Now he's magically 'back from the dead' and he expects us to trust his story about his own dark side taking over the city and defeating the two villains we've never been able to beat. It all sounds fishy to me." He metamorphosed into a gasping carp to emphasize his point before reverting.

"Beast Boy makes a good point, but right now, we have to trust that this is the same guy, and that he's telling the truth. I mean, he was fighting the zombies, so we can at least trust he's on the same side as us." Robin pulled out his T-communicator. "I'm calling Titans East. You two go on ahead."

"Very well, Robin." Starfire pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "I just want you to know… if we don't make it out alive…"

"Yes?" grunted the bluing Robin.

"…I have left all my possessions to Silkie."

Robin and Beast Boy face-planted.

When Beast Boy had recovered, he and Starfire took to the skies in search of their friend.

Robin meanwhile, had opened his communicator.

"Calling all Titans, calling all Titans. This is an emergency, class Omega." The code word for apocalyptic scenario. "I need all of you to respond as quickly as is superhumanly possible. Acknowledge…"

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So that's it, the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it!

Also, if you have any pressing questions that weren't answered in this chapter, go ahead and leave your Q in a review, and I'll answer it in a reply, if it doesn't spoil the plot, that is.

This is Ghostalker, signing off.


	15. Chapter 13 Preparation

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Never have, never will. So shut up, you lawyers!T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T

Tierce climbed the last set of stairs of the Wayne building. His muscles burned, but he ignored them, arriving on the roof. Raven was still unconscious on his shoulder, but she would soon wake up. He would make sure of it.

He set her down on the ground, and then sat back on his haunches, watching her for any signs of alertness. Soon his objective would be complete… soon he would be the most powerful villain in the world; the Master of Darkness.

Raven stirred, and Tierce's focus immediately went to her. She opened her eyes, but as soon as she was about to cry out, he rushed over and clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Silence now, little Raven," he whispered in her ear. "There's only one thing left to do…"

She pulled away from him, and if looks could kill, Tierce would be several times dead by now. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. Now he was going to have to explain everything. "I am going to take over the world. And I need you to do so."

"You're crazy if you think I'd help a creep like _you_." She spat the last word with venom.

He laughed. "I don't want _you_," he replied. "I just need you to… open the gate…"

She gasped as she suddenly realized what he meant. "But… but why?" she choked.

"Haven't you figured out what I'm doing yet?" He ticked off the items on his fingers. "First, I persuade your Goth friend to kill himself—yes, that was me—and I drain his life energy, then I create an army of soul-sucking zombies and drain your robotic friend. I meant to get all of them, but they proved stronger than expected. Then I steal your book while masquerading as you so I can free Malchior. He distracts your friends long enough, and then I absorb him. Then I defeat Slade, and assimilate him." He paused. "Did I forget anything?"

She shivered. "So you want to use me to open the gate and release Trigon. And then you're going to try and absorb him, too." She looked away. "Good luck with that one. He's far more powerful than anyone could ever hope to be."

Tierce smiled. "I don't know, Raven… you defeated him all by yourself. Slade was able to hurt him. With Slade and Malchior, in addition to your friends, and the large number of other people whose souls I have harvested, I think I'd be more than a match for him."

"Well, if you think I'm just going to release him, you're dead wrong." She turned back to him, her eyes white and her hands black. "In fact, I think I'm going to have to stop you right here and now." She threw her hands forward, chunks of the concrete roof of the building flying from their resting places to crush Tierce.

His fists burned with dark flame, and his blows destroyed each and every concrete projectile with casual ease. When she attempted to bring the WAYNE sign down on him, he scorched it to molten metal before it struck him. Suddenly he was behind her, grabbing her wrists and entering her mind.

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Around the world, communicators were flashing red. Heroes of every shape, size, and ability answered the call of the boy in red. Some flew, some ran, some teleported, and some took vehicles, but all converged on one spot, a city where the entire world was about to change…

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Starfire was the first to spot the fighting on top of the Wayne building. She radioed in to Robin. "Friend Robin, I believe I have found friend Raven and her enemy. They are on top of the Wayne building. I will go down and help."

"No, Starfire!" shouted Robin. "Hang back until Beast Boy and I arrive. We should be getting help from the other Titans soon, but you can't go in alone; he'll destroy you! Wait 'til we get there, and we'll all go in together."

"Affirmative, Robin!" Starfire was not her normally cheerful self, and it showed in her erratic flying. After all, who could be cheerful if their best friend had been kidnapped and the world was about to end?

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Tylan sprinted back to the graveyard at full speed, skidding to a halt when he saw his bike. He approached it quickly, his eyes searching for any major damage. Fortunately, it had emerged largely unscathed from the battle. He heaved a sigh of relief, then hopped on it and revved it up.

The jet engine whirred, then screamed as he pushed the throttle to maximum. He jerked back in his seat as the bike took off into the sky. _I only have to find my other half. Wherever it is…_

Almost as if by instinct, he guided his vehicle down through the streets of Jump City, and wove between buildings at high speed, his enhanced reflexes the only thing keeping him from becoming a highly gory window decoration for some unsuspecting office worker.

He guided his jetbike toward a brightly lit field, where two teams were engaging in a game of football. He didn't know why he went, but something inside him told him that was where he needed to go.

He touched down, softly this time, and pulled his helmet off. Nobody really mentioned his bizarre armor, though he did get many strange looks. He mentally scanned every person in the crowd, but his search came up empty. He then scanned the players on the field, and the quarterback immediately caught his attention. The boy had not one, but _two_ conscious minds. He considered his options. He could either question the boy after pulling him off the field, or he could just take what he needed, and hope he was unnoticed.

He opted for the latter, and quickly broke through the pitiful mental barriers the boy had. He found himself standing in a dark room, a single light illuminating a circle in the middle of the floor. He took a few steps, the sound echoing throughout the apparently empty room. _What would you expect from a typical football player_ he thought. Then again, he had no room to speak, as he was once a player himself…

His thoughts were interrupted by another set of steps, and he suspected the new arrival was not the owner of this body, as he was almost certainly occupied with his game. The outline of the newcomer showed, and he stepped into the light.

Tylan smiled as he found himself staring at a perfect replica of himself.

"Hi," said the replica. "I've been wondering what happened to you. Particularly as Raven hasn't been seeing me anymore."

"Wait, just a second." Tylan glared at his copy. "You were going out with her while I was gone?"

The copy smiled gently. "No, seeing as I'm really just a segment of you anyhow. I was inside her head anyway, after you got hit with Slade's attack."

"How does that work?" Tylan asked.

"Well, you see, you know that Slade was after an extremely old artifact, and that the artifact was pictured on the vase. But do you remember what the vase showed?"

"Not really. Even though it belonged to my family, and Slade took it from my house, I never took a good look at it."

"Well, it showed the Kryshna gem, an amulet that, when used, will strip a selected 'half' from the target. In other words, it divides the victim along the normally inextricably entwined borders between light and dark. In essence, it makes a person entirely evil or entirely good."

The copy continued. "This gem is not unique in the fact that it can be used either for good or for evil. It's also not unique in that it has been used for more evil than good. But it _is_ unique in that it can undo almost all the evil it has done in the past."

"What are you trying to say?" Tylan crossed his arms.

"I'm saying that using it, you might be able to stop my counterpart. Your dark side." The clone shrugged. "But what happens is entirely of your doing. I am no longer a free entity, now that you're here. So let's go."

He walked toward Tylan and stepped into him. Tylan could feel all the warmth of everything good flow back into him. _So are you still able to talk to me?_

_Of course, _came the voice. _What else do you want to know?_

_I want to know how my dark side got so powerful_.

_Oh…_ the voice hesitated. _I don't know specifically, because I haven't been able to keep tabs on him, but my guess is he is able to feed on the dark aspects of those he inhabits, like I am able to grow from the good attributes of the people _I_ inhabit._

_I see. _"Let's get out of here," Tylan said, once more looking out at the field through his own eyes. He turned and strode back to his back, and took off into the night sky.

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Ta-da!! Another chapter!! How do you like it? Big battle coming up next chapter! I hope you're looking forward to it as much as I am!

That being said, I should encourage you to review. It's a good thing.


	16. Chapter 14 Rescue

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own the Teen Titans! Go figure!!Ok, I have to admit, I lied last time when I said the big fight was in this chapter. Sorry to disappoint, but I hit writer's block, and I needed something to post. So here it is. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Raven fought valiantly against Tierce's mind penetration, throwing up barrier after barrier, but he crushed them faster than she could erect them. Little by little, he wore her defenses down, never tiring, until the last wall had been broken down, and Tierce stood in Raven's mind, looking at a stone road in the middle of a space filled with stars.

He grinned maliciously, and took off down the path, ignoring the cries of "Turn back!" from the ravens perched in the trees. He was unfazed as they morphed into fanged demon-birds, and attacked him. Each one that came within arm's reach was hit by a burst of black flame and obliterated.

He continued down the path, until he found what he sought. Written on the stone wall, in strange hieroglyphs, was a spell, an enchantment that locked the girl's demonic father away for all time.

With a smirk, Tierce began to chant the spell, the red letters tearing away from the stone to float in three concentric circles. The circles enclosed him, wrapped around him, and attached to his skin. "Excellent," he breathed. He quickly withdrew from Raven's mind, knocking her unconscious.

Tierce uttered the spell once more, this time, the red markings leaving his skin and forming the circles in midair. He gestured toward the street below, and the three circles spun faster and faster, merging into one bright red ring.

And then all hell broke loose.

With screams of triumph, thousands of fire demons tore from the now-open portal between earth and hell. They took off through the city, finding anyone and anything to destroy, to main, to _kill_.

And with a mighty roar, the mightiest demon of all, Trigon, came, his claws reaching out as if to tear the sky from its place. His four eyes narrowed as he saw the human dressed in black standing before him, and in a booming voice, he asked, "Who is this that has freed me from my eternal prison?"

The human fearlessly answered. "We are Tierce. We were the ones that freed you."

"And we want you to join us in ruling the world."

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Robin, held in Starfire's arms as she flew, was the first to spot the chaos unleashed from the Wayne Building. "Damn! It's too late!" he cried as the streaks of demonic fire hurried through the city. They hurried to land on the adjacent building, and heard every word that Trigon and Tierce exchanged.

But they weren't as worried about that as they were about the fire demons approaching them, cackling evilly in anticipation of their meal. With a roar, Robin charged the flaming specters and drew his sword, slicing through two with ease.

But more came. And even though he and Beast Boy and Starfire fought as they had never fought before, the sheer number of demons was threatening to overwhelm them.

Flames licked up the sides of buildings, and the street itself was a bottomless pit, leading straight to the depths of the underworld. The street was becoming hell itself.

And the newly come Titans, the ones who had rushed from all over the world to assist, found themselves in the middle of the infernal chaos that had unleashed itself upon the world.

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Tierce looked up at the towering demon, and then reached down to pick up his daughter. "I won't be needing her anymore, and neither will you. So, let's do away with her, shall we?"

He walked to the edge, and held Raven over the edge. "Goodbye, sweet Raven. At last I have my revenge on you."

And with that, he tossed her over the edge, and into the abyss.

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Tylan saw the destruction of the city. He saw the towering flames that marked the entrance into hell. And so he sped toward it with all speed, riding at the level of building tops. The jet engine roared with a fury almost equal to that of the hellish nightmares crawling all over the city. Tylan had to destroy a couple that decided to follow him with two blue spheres of energy.

He saw the deadly dance that was the fight between Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and the flaming fiends. He aimed his bike over there, intending to join the fight and even the odds.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her fall.

He turned, and saw, to his horror, that the love of his life, unconscious, was falling into the very pit the flames were leaking from.

He had no time to think, no time to reason, only time to _do_. And so he did: he turned toward the hellhole, and shot over the edge of his building.

She was far, far below him, and he could see hellish tongues of fire licking at her body. He pushed the throttle to full, and angled himself straight down toward her.

He caught up to her in a matter of moments, but by this time, they were below the level of the street, and falling into an endless chasm. He pulled her onto the cycle with him, and his mind spun as he racked his brain for something, _anything_, that would get them out of there alive.

He swung the nose of his jet-cycle around, until it was facing straight up, and he prayed he had enough fuel to make it out. He gunned the engine for the final time, and the cycle kicked them upward, up toward the darkening sky.

They didn't make it.

But just when Tylan thought all was lost, and he and Raven had begun to fall back into the endless flame, an orange hand reached down and caught his, pulling him up with superhuman strength. He let go of the cycle, and their velocity increased even more. Soon, they were flying out of the hellish chasm, and back into the cool night air.

But things were far from over.

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There. That wasn't SO bad, was it? Ok, maybe it was. But seriously, I swear that next chapter has the big fight (or at least the first part of it.) Please keep reading, and especially review. Reviews are always nice.


	17. Chapter 15 Irony

Disclaimer: I'm not really sure why I have to keep putting these up every chapter. I mean, it's not like I obtained ownership between chapters, right? So I don't own the Teen Titans. So what? I own a computer! That's all I need!

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_It's really quite ironic_, thought Tylan. _Here I am, the only hope for humanity, and I need saving from an alien. Not that I'm complaining, but it's just so bizarre._ Starfire pulled him up onto the building from which he had taken off in his attempt to rescue Raven, which was mostly successful. Except for the obvious failure to return from the gateway to hell under his own power.

The other thing that seemed ironic to him was that the biggest fight in the history of the universe was about to erupt, and it wasn't between good and evil. Instead, it was between two evil entities fighting for power and dominance. On the one side, Trigon, Raven's demonic father, and the most feared demon in hell, had just been released by the challenger, Tylan's own dark side personified, who called himself Tierce and had assimilated the souls of several hundred people, in addition to Slade and Malchior, the dark dragon who had once stolen Raven's heart and then ripped it in half.

The two titanic villains stood facing each other, Tierce dwarfed by Trigon's enormous size. But Tierce showed no fear; instead, his face displayed only confidence and a thirst for revenge—though for what, Tylan wasn't sure.

Trigon spoke first. "Puny human. Do you not realize who you are facing at this very moment?"

Tierce's defiance did not diminish. "Yeah, something about a Trigon, the most feared demon in the universe. Well, pardon me for saying so, but you don't look that fearsome. Are you sure you can do this whole, 'ruling the world' thing?"

"Fool!" The demon's four eyes narrowed. "I am far more capable than the likes of you. In fact, I'm wondering why I should even let you live. As far as I'm concerned, you are nothing but an insolent pest that is not worth my time."

"Oh? Well, if I'm not worth your time, why don't you just kill me?" He smirked. "If you can, that is."

"With ease." The demon's red eyes flashed, and four bright red streams of light emitted from them raced toward the human standing on the building top. An enormous explosion hit the roof, and the Titans and Tylan thought it was all over.

But when the fire faded, and the smoke cleared, there stood Tierce, his palm extended, all the crimson energy that had just been fired at him now contained in a sphere in the palm of his hand. He drew his hand back, then threw it forward, the sphere hurtling at chaotic speed toward the demon.

Having his own attack thrown back at him stunned the monstrous devil, and he fell over backwards, crushing the building the Titans were occupying the roof of at the moment. They took off quickly, in their haste managing to avoid an inconveniently timed death by crushing. Wouldn't that have been ironic? Watching the apocalyptic battle between the two most powerful evil beings in the universe, and being crushed to death by one of them falling on you?

As they relocated, they saw Trigon struggling to his feet. "So, human, you are far more powerful than you look. But you cannot believe that you can defeat me, even if you have tricks like that up your sleeve." He glared. "I'm going to have to up the ante." He roared, and two additional arms sprouted from his back. The four palms glowed with red light, and _eight_ beams plunged toward the man dressed in black.

But as the destructive attack destroyed the Wayne Building entirely, a small black shape could be seen, flying high above the destruction, his hands glowing with black fire. He unleashed a hail of black fireballs at the demon, who was unfazed, and in response hurled red fireballs the size of semi trucks at Tierce.

Tierce dodged this way and that in midair, dodging all but one fireball, which he smashed through with a quick strike of his fist. He then flew with lightning speed towards Trigon, and landed an enormous kick on the demon's face.

Trigon staggered back again, amazed at the speed and strength this mere human possessed. He countered by smashing all four fists into the ground, launching enormous chunks of street at Tierce.

One managed to hit its target, knocking him from the sky to plunge into the depths of another office building.

He emerged minutes later, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth, his face battered and bruised. But he was still alive, and he smiled. It was time to finish the fight.

"Impressive, Trigon, very impressive. But it is now time to finish you off." He brought his fists to his sides, and reached deep into his mind, retrieving one of the many souls he had absorbed. With a shout, he said "Darkfire Dragon Attack!"

A cloud of impenetrable darkness emanated from his body, and quickly formed into a semblance of Malchior. The dragon roared, and, its mouth bursting with flames, let forth a scorching torrent of fire which blew Trigon off his hooves.

Tierce didn't allow Trigon the time to get up again, but instead, blasted him with another surge of conflagration, and jumped up on the demons chest. He stretched out his hand, and a sword materialized from black fire. He swung back, and plunged the sword deep into the demon's black heart.

As soon as the way was open, the dragon swooped down and dove into the demon's chest. Trigon screamed as he began to disintegrate from the inside out, his life energy being absorbed by Tierce through his sword. Soon, nothing was left of the demon but his enormous antlers.

Tierce was now truly the master of darkness.

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Ok, there it is, the big battle I promised y'all. I know it's not quite as long as you might have envisioned, but the overwhelming power of hundreds of souls will beat a demon any day.

Keep reading, it gets even better! No, really! It _can_ get better! So review!! It's a good thing.


	18. Chapter 16 Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, yadda yadda.

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The Titans watched in horror as the enormous red demon disappeared into nothingness, absorbed by Tierce. Raven stirred in Tylan's arms, and she opened her violet eyes slowly. She looked up at him and smiled, but it quickly disappeared when he could not return it. His gaze drifted back toward his dark incarnation, standing in the street in triumph.

She followed his gaze, and found the enormous antlers that were all that was left of her father. She gasped in realization.

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Throughout the city, Titans fought fiery fiends with fearsome ferocity. But no matter how many deadly demons the Titans demolished, dozens more did dastardly deeds.

(I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the alliteration)

Titans East in particular was having rather substantial success, as Aqualad's talents were especially effective against the flaming devils. Mas and Menos' speed proved too much for the demons to handle, and with Speedy and Bumblebee providing cover fire, the team managed to defeat a large number of them in a short time. They began to press toward the center of the city, where the catastrophic conflagration was chaotically consuming commercial constructions (Sorry!).

(Quick A/N: If I do any more alliteration, I'm sorry, I just can't help it.)

Alliteration aside, the intrepid heroes began to make their way toward their friends, who were standing on the top of a building, watching Tierce ascend into mid-air, his face a display of triumph and glee. Now nobody would stand in his way. Not even his light counterpart, who sat idly by, watching as he took over the entire world.

He continued to ascend, turning slowly, surveying that which would soon be his. He laughed once, but his voice was so loud and powerful that the ground shook. He then looked down at the puny Titans who had been so bothersome in the past, but were now so far outmatched. He spoke in his booming voice:

"_You insignificant __fools__! Only now, when it is already too late, do you understand your mistake!"_

"And what mistake would that be?" shouted back a defiant Tylan. "They never made any mistake. If anyone made a mistake, it was me!"

_"It matters not. All that is left is the final destruction. And then, should you survive, you will be nothing but my slaves, mine to destroy or to let live as I see fit!"_

"You have serious ego issues," Tylan shot back. He set Raven down softly, then stood upright and locked eyes with Tierce. "But that's not important. All that's important is that I'm going to have to kill you now."

Tierce laughed again, longer, louder, and fuller. _"Surely you're joking! I cannot be defeated now! I am the epitome of dark power, and there is no force in heaven or on earth that can oppose me! I am invincible!"_

"Wrong again." Tylan said. "I'm here, and I can oppose you. So let's do it, shall we?" He put his helmet on, and assumed a fighting stance.

Tierce grinned. What would Tylan be able to do? Just minutes ago, he had defeated Tylan in the graveyard, and that was before he had assimilated Trigon. Now he was overflowing with power, and Tylan, if anything, was weaker.

Without another word, Tylan shot from the building top high into the air, moving so fast he nearly vanished to sight. He zipped around, aiming fists and feet at the supervillain who floated calmly in place, blocking his attacks just in time, every time.

He flew back, hands glowing, and unleashed an energy burst. Tierce swatted it aside casually. He charged Tierce, and they clashed, each blocking the other's blows.

But Tierce materialized the sword from black fire, and began slashing at Tylan with it. He knew if he could just hit his light counterpart, he would have his power, too. But Tylan managed to dodge each swing, if only by an inch or two. Finally, Tierce got so annoyed he unleashed a burst of power, radiating out on all sides, to strike Tylan and hurl him down to the street.

Raven caught the tangible words emanating from his mind. _No… I can't die now… it would tear the universe apart…_ It was extraordinarily egotistical of him, she thought, especially when the end was almost near.

But she found that, as he was thinking at an extraordinarily rapid rate, and through their bond, she was able to discern that this revelation was derived from a memory… a memory of her mother…

He had seen her mother. And she had told him _"… you cannot die, for we cannot take you back. That would create a conundrum that would rip open the fabric of space and time…"_

And she knew. She realized as she looked down on him from the street that, as Tierce aimed his lethal attack at the helpless body, what she had to do.

Tierce let out a mighty shout, and dark flame burst from him, forming the head of a dragon, trailing a stream of flame behind it as it rushed toward its victim.

Tylan stood up and faced the attack. He was prepared for it. He would take it like a man, even though it would hurt like hell. And he would keep on fighting…

…and then Raven came.

She stood between him and the incoming destruction, pushing him to the side with all her might, shouting, "It's my turn now!"

And with that, she took the full force of the attack.

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"No!!" shouted Tylan. He knew she would do it. He had just _known_. But she hadn't needed to. She felt she had to pay him back for saving her a year before. But then, as now, the sacrifice had been completely unnecessary. He held her in his arms, knowing that Tierce's attack had not been one aimed to kill, but one aimed instead to absorb the target's soul. And now his true love was trapped in the dark prison that was his adversary's mind. He wept, no longer knowing what to do. All his plans to defeat his archenemy were destroyed because of her selfless act of love.

He was torn from his mourning by the prick of a sharp blade at his throat. He looked up to see Tierce grinning with vile amusement at his sorrow, holding the soul-eating blade to his throat. "_So very sad… she didn't need to do that. __Just as we never needed to sacrifice ourselves to save her.__ The circle is now complete."_

"How…" choked Tylan. "…how did you leave?"

"_Oh, that's an easy one. You have multiple personality __syndrome__, but unlike most cases, you have what might be called Jekyll/Hyde syndrome. You see, your personality was split more than normal along the light/dark lines. You hated evil so much that you split along the lines, forcefully separating me from the rest of you. I only managed to show my face when you discovered your own __psionic__ abilities and let your quest for power consume you."_ He chuckled. _"Power corrupts, and you were no exception. Only during those times was I able to assume dominance, but you were not completely unaware of my activities. That's why every time you committed robberies, you felt as if you were watching them from a distance. __Because, in essence, you were.__ But you continued to resist my attempts to exert control, and eventually, I became tired of trying. So when the opportunity presented itself, I left. I found another whose will was weak and whose heart was already inclined towards darkness."_

"Pale Face…" stated Tylan, his eyes blurry from tears, and his mind spinning in confusion from these new disclosures.

_"Precisely.__ And when I had enough influence, I was able to make him kill himself and take his soul and life energy and use them in my new host. And so the cycle continued. __Until I arrived here.__ And now I have all the power I will ever need to rule. Particularly once you are out of the way."_

"Just get it over with." Tylan tried to sound weary, but it was difficult to mask the excitement in his voice. Perhaps his plan would work after all…

_"Very well then…" _He swung the blade back, and plunged it deep into Tylan's chest.

Tylan screamed, but only for a moment, before he fell limp on the ground.

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So, how was that? What will happen next? Will the Titans be able to fight Tierce now? What is Tylan's plan? Will it work? Find out next time, when I update with the next chapter of the story.

So, after asking all the important questions, and hopefully answering a few others, I would like a moment to thank all my sponsors…

Ok, I don't have any. But review anyway. My non-existent sponsors pay me by the review, so leave me one. Good, bad, neutral, don't matter, just DO IT!!! Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!


	19. Chapter 17 Cliche

Warning! This chapter is extremely goofy. I was in a bizarre mood when I first wrote it, and I am reluctant to re-write it. So keep in mind, this chapter breaks from the serious mood of the rest of the story and has a slight amount of humor.

It's also short, because I didn't feel I could successfully switch from silly to serious in the same chapter. So I hope you enjoy the humor. And I hope you don't abandon the story just because of this chapter.

Oh, and I don't own the Teen Titans.

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The sky was red.

The flames licking from the city burned hotter and hotter, casting the crimson tint on the otherwise black clouds that hovered over the earth. Lightning flashed inside these clouds, occasionally leaking out to strike the ground and start another fire.

It was a perfect day to destroy the world.

Tierce stood over his former body, the blade in his hand still stuck in the chest. Though the sword was buried up to its hilt, no blood issued from the wound, for the sword was not made of real steel, but of spiritual energy. And as a physical sword was designed to take a physical life, so this was intended to take spiritual life.

He pulled the blade from Tylan's chest, though Tylan was no longer there. Tierce smirked in triumph as he felt the life force leave his former self and drain into himself.

He leaped into the air, sheer will propelling him off the ground. He floated high above the burning city again, and he once agan surveyed the helpless Titans watching, dumbstruck.

"_Hahaha__ Foolish mortals! Now there is nothing you can do__ now! Now, I will wipe all life from this city, and soon after, the world!"_

Robin looked up at the levitating villain, and defiantly shouted back, "We can still fight you, Tierce, and no matter how powerful you may be, we're going to take you down or die trying!"

Beast Boy turned to Robin. "You realize how cliché that sounded, right?"

Robin shrugged. "I can't say anything unless the author wants me to. And right now, the author is feeling extremely cliché."

Beast Boy nodded. "Fair enough…"

Tierce crossed his arms. _"Are you two done discussing the author's mood? I'd like to get back to destroying the world. __In an extremely cliché way."_

"Not if we can help it!" exclaimed Batman, as he and the Justice League appeared, rather cliché-ly. If that's even a word.

_ "Stop!"_ shouted the super-villain. _"I shall now reverse time, and prevent the Justice League from showing up. They don't belong in this story!"_

_everything__ goes into rewind, before the entire cliché argument started_

Tierce surveyed the surroundings. "_Ok. Now, where were we?"_

"You were about to take five minutes to explain how you were going to destroy the world. And you also have to explain how you got to where we are now, and why you did what you did," Beast Boy yelled in reply. Robin glared at him. "What? I'm just trying to buy us some time!"

"_Well, seeing as you're just going to buy time, I'll skip the lengthy explanation and just say that if I hadn't gotten to this point, there would be no conflict for you to overcome, and the story would be boring. Now that the formalities are out of the way, it's time to begin."_ Tierce flew higher, conjuring a ball of black fire, which we held between his hands. It grew larger and larger, the bolts of electricity emanating from it faster and faster. He drew it above his head, where it continued to expand as he funneled more and more spirit energy into it. "_Your end is at hand, Titans! Prepare to die!" _ He hurled the ball of black flame toward the ground.

"Nooooo!!" an unknown figure sprang from the shadows. Summoning his magic, he cast an illusion on himself that allowed him unnaturally fast reflexes and temporarily greater strength. He threw himself upward, straight into the path of the fireball. In an extremely cliché way, he took the entire brunt of the attack, absorbing and dispersing it. And, of course, he died in the process. Because some things just have to be that way.

"I swear, he looks familiar…" said Beast Boy as he stared at the fallen man.

_"The fool!"_ exclaimed Tierce. "_No one could stop that attack and live! And it doesn't matter, because I can just do it again!" _ He began charging up for another attack.

And then, something completely un-cliché happened.

He felt his hand twitch.

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What does this mean? A hand twitch? Does it have anything significant behind it? Or is it yet another product of the author's satirical and silly mood? Find out next time, on an all-new episode of…

DRAGONBALL Z! cheesy rock music plays

So yeah, even if you hated this, let me know. In a review. Just review. I'm tired of saying it. Just do it. Like Nike.


	20. Chapter 18 Control

Ok, I returned to the serious mood again. This explains the very last event of the last chapter, so pay attention. There's a lot of thinking, so there will be lots of italic print. Don't be thrown off.

That being said, I don't own the Teen Titans.

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Tylan woke up.

He knew he had blacked out, and he remembered being stabbed in the chest with Tierce's sword. But now he was awake. There was no pain. He looked down at his chest. No hole. _Damn, my plan didn't work…_

He surveyed his surroundings, thinking he might once again have made it to the afterlife. But he was surrounded by blackness. A light over his head illuminated a ten-foot circle around him, but beyond that, he could see nothing. No white city. No sight of Raven's mother. No sight of Raven.

But he could feel her. That intangible presence in the back of his mind. He had developed it over the weeks he had known her. They had bonded so strongly… and that bond became even stronger when she had restored his memory at the book shop.

He had to find her. Wherever she was. Wherever _he_ was. He had the strange sense he'd been somewhere like this before, but he couldn't place it.

As he reached out with his mental sense, he drew back in shock. Thousands of voices, tortured, _screaming_ voices filled his mind. Three other, blacker, darker, more evil presences lurked behind these screaming entities, their hatred of him traveling clearly through his mental probe.

He had lost the connection with Raven among the thousands of pained souls, and he struggled to get it back, finally succeeding. He oriented himself such that he was facing the direction her presence emanated from, and began to run.

He ran out of the circle of light, expecting to be simply plunged into darkness. He was, but there was something _more_ to this darkness. It grasped at him, clutched at him, attempting to drag him down into its murky depths. He realized he was no longer on solid ground, and was sinking fast into the greedy abyss. He fought to stay above the surface, searching desperately for any sign of Raven. Surely she couldn't be gone by now…

He caught a flash of blue amongst the blackness. Raven's cloak. He forged ahead slowly through the darkness pulling him down, fighting to get to her. He got close enough to see her, and to see the fright in her eyes, the only visible part of her, as she was pulled under.

"No!!" He fought to pull himself free of the dark muck, and dove under the surface, searching for Raven's hand with his own. He touched it for a moment, then it slipped away as she was pulled even farther under.

He swam down, as much as he could swim in the molasses-like material, and was surprised when it abruptly stopped. His feet were still above him, stuck in the swirling darkness, while the top half of him was protruding into some vast cavern-like space. He saw Raven below him, surrounded by shadow, a shadow that was moving, writhing, _hungering_. He squirmed to get free, and dropped the vast distance, landing perfectly on his feet, though how he wasn't sure. He saw tentacles extending from the gloom surrounding his true love, and she screamed as they grabbed her around the wrists, ankles, and neck. She was being dragged back, taken once again by the all-consuming darkness. He summoned his powers, or at least, he tried. But he was unable to, so instead he ran forward and began to pull Raven back. The shadow tentacles threw him off, but did not fasten themselves around him. Raven was quickly pulled back into the obscurity of the night.

He charged ahead, ripping at immaterial shadow with all his strength. The darkness gave way before him, and he soon found Raven. She was kneeling on the ground, head bowed, mouth gagged, and the tentacles now chains around her wrists and ankles. He could see energy flowing from her through the chains, further into the darkness. He dropped to his own knees, and embraced her. She looked up, and her eyes filled with tears as she looked into his tear-streaked face. It was clear to him that she was in a lot of pain, and he surmised that it was because of the energy flowing out of her, which was being drained into something. He broke the chains with his bare hands, and grabbed them, following them back to their source. He saw many similarly imprisoned souls along the way, and even stopped to stare at Cyborg and the very thin, very pale Pale Face. Cyborg was more or less healthy, but Pale Face was so thin he almost didn't look human. They glanced up at him, but seemed not to recognize him. He drew back in horror, wanting desperately to help them. But he had more important things to do. He had to find out where he was, and what was going on.

_Wait…_ _Pale Face is here. Didn't Tierce say something about absorbing Pale Face? And hadn't __Cyborg__ been taken by those zombies? Wait just a second…_ and in that moment, it dawned on him.

He was inside Tierce's mind.

Or, perhaps, more accurately, his soul. But in either case, it explained the thousands of screaming souls, Raven, himself, Cyborg and Pale Face. And so those three other malevolent entities must have been Malchior, Slade, and Trigon. He shivered. He didn't want to face those three in his current state, although perhaps they, too, had been tapped for energy, rendering them powerless.

In any case, he knew where he was, which was a start. What he was going to do was another question altogether.

He continued to follow the chains, thousands upon thousands of them, and eventually reached an enormous, throbbing mass of… _something_. What is was… well, he had no idea. But he had a feeling that Tierce, or whatever represented him in this bizarre realm, was inside the mass. He dug into the tough mass with his hands, ripping off chunk after chunk, burrowing his way further and further into the disgusting blob. He plunged his arm elbow-deep in the slime, and took hold of someone's clothes. He yanked the person out, and to his surprise, found himself staring at another exact replica of himself.

_Now I know where I've seen this before… inside that football player's mind._ His replica drew back his fist and punched him in the face. Reeling backward, he recovered in time to see his evil clone rip himself free of his gelatinous prison. His doppelganger shook himself and bared his teeth in a vile grin.

"_Ah, I see you finally made it,__" _ sneered Tylan's dark side. _"I was expecting you to be caught by my shadow bonds, and drain you of your life."_

"Well, as you can see, it didn't work," responded the hero. "I'm here to stop you. And even though it's cliché, I may have to sacrifice myself in the attempt."

_"You can't do anything in this realm that I don't want you to. This is _my_ mind. I control everything here."_

_Control…_ The word echoed in Tylan's mind. _What is it about that word that is catching my attention?_ And without warning, he was plunged into the flashback he had seen so many times before…

_She was not angry. "Due to the unusual circumstances of your death," she replied. "Both of your halves left your body before your death. You're all that's left."_

_"Wait just a second," I said. "If my good and evil halves both left, what does that make me?"_

_"Neither," she said. "You are the judge, the impartial that weighs the good and the bad and takes the course of action. Your decisions affect which side becomes more developed, and as one half becomes more developed and more powerful, it becomes easier to do what that side wants." She looked at me oddly. "You are you. There's no other way to really put it. You make the decisions, and you decide what course of action you will take. Your light and dark sides do not control you; _you_ control you."_

…_If my light and dark sides don't control me, but I control them…_

He turned to his evil half. "You're wrong."

The clone's eyes narrowed. _"What did you say?"_

"I said, 'you're wrong.' As in, you don't control everything that happens in here." He pointed to himself. "I do."

_"You're insane! I have more power than you could ever dream of having! The host of this body has given me control, and I can do whatever I want!"_

"Wrong again." Tylan shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? You see, the reason you left is because you had no control over me. Because I decided what I wanted to do. Not you. And because we are now in the same place, _I am the master_." He smirked. "You can say you're in control all you want, but the simple fact is, I am the judge. I am the deciding factor. And I say I am in control." He paused. "And now, to demonstrate."

He twitched Tierce's hand.

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Aha! Now you see! So how is he going to use his asserted dominance to turn the tables on Tierce? (sorry about the alliteration). Next chapter should be close to the conclusion of the story, so stick around.


	21. Chapter19 Wraith

Ah, yes, Ghostalker is back again with another chapter! That's right folks, 21 chapters so far! To all my faithful reviewers… I love you all! It's your feedback and continued support that motivate me to continue writing. Definitely wouldn't have gotten this far without you.

This chapter contains a non-OC OC, if that makes any sense. In other words, it's an OC not of my creation. I have obtained permission from the great and mighty Phaethon (one of my regular reviewers and author of two fics on to use his OC in my story. Because I think his OC is bad-ass.

So, if you want more background on the unrecognizable character, please visit Phaethon's stories Smoke and Mirrors and Wraiths and Hauntings, and I'm sure he would love reviews too. Both are great, well-written stories. But, of course, this story does not quite fit into the canon.

I really hope you enjoy this chapter, with a crossover from Phaethon's work.

Oh, and I don't own the Teen Titans. Just MY OC's, Tylan and Tierce.

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The city was burning.

The Teen Titans watched from a building top as the most powerful villain they had ever faced stared at his hand in shock and horror. It twitched madly, and he gasped when it reached down to pick up the sword from where he had dropped it when he fell from the sky onto the building top below. He fought back against the force asserting itself within his mind, and inwardly, he cursed himself for absorbing Tylan. _Damn! I should have foreseen this! _

Slowly, little by little, the blade turned until it faced Tierce's heart. But he was able to keep his hand from plunging the sword into his chest. Sweat broke out on his forehead with the extreme force of concentration it took to keep him from dying.

He reached deep into his psyche with what little control he had, and cut the bonds holding several of the more powerful souls bound there. Three specific ones. While it was a gamble to release them, he thought it would be worth it to stop Tylan from gaining control now. Either way, those souls would be released. Better to do it now, and regain them later, then lose them—and himself—forever.

He laughed as he felt raw power surge through him.

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Tylan punched his evil doppelganger in the stomach, then spun into a kick that sent him tumbling head over heels. He charged his fallen clone, intent on completely taking him out of the fight and gaining full control.

But his dark side was already on his feet, and caught Tylan's speeding fist, only to retaliate with his other fist. Tylan blocked this, too, and the two were caught in a deadlock, both straining hard to gain dominance.

Then the dark copy pushed against Tylan, flying back several feet, and smirked. "You're in trouble now, boy…" he taunted, as three powerful presences pressed against Tylan's awareness, and three super-villains came to the stage.

"Shit…" muttered Tylan, who saw that he was surrounded by Slade, Trigon, and the dragon Malchior. In his current state, where he had no powers of his own, but simply limited control over this dark realm, he couldn't fight them. Unless he…

"Stop!" he cried, exerting his entire will through Tierce's mind.

Slade simply chuckled, and Malchior hissed, "_You foolish human! Now that we are free of our __bondsss__, you have no control over __usssss__! We are free to kill you… and anyone __elsssse__ we __ssssso__ desire…" _the dragon glanced at Tylan's dark side. "_We'll finish with you later_,_ worm."_

"Oh shit…" Tylan muttered.

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I recalled my Wraith, felt the power flow back into me. That appearance had taken quite a lot out of me. I'd had to cast my Wraith, so that Tierce believed it was me, and then I had to use a Conviction on him, convincing him to stop his powers as my Wraith was hit. Breaking into a mind that powerful had taken more than I thought I'd had. After that, it was a simple matter to make my Wraith appear dead.

I shrugged my shoulders, my white trench coat rising and falling. Wasn't too bad… except for that fact that I was almost too tired to activate my various equipment. I stood there for a few seconds, hunched over with my hands on my knees, catching my breath.

The question was what to do now…

I could see that Tierce was struggling with something. What it was, I wasn't quite sure, but I knew that now he believed I was dead, it would be a simple matter to sneak up behind him and take him out. I hefted my trusty Sidewinder sub-machine gun. Sometimes it was impractical to use illusory powers to put someone out of their misery. I heaved a sigh. Particularly as I was unfit to attack his mind again.

I cast a Veil on myself, one that would never have worked had Tierce not seen me die and had he not been distracted by… whatever. And then I leapt into the air, my GRAVE system propelling me high enough to reach the building where Tierce was _still_ standing, doing nothing.

I touched down lightly, shut off GRAVE, then crept up behind him. My Veils may have made me invisible, but they didn't cancel out sound. I was three paces behind… two… one…

I rose and stuck my Sidewinder's barrel into the back of his head. "Freeze, or you're dead."

"_I'll be happy to comply,"_ came the answer, stunning me and almost causing me to lower my gun.

"What?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"_Never mind, you fool. I'm not sure how you managed to survive, but I'm sure it was rather complicated. And right now, I have better things to do than move."_ His cold voice, while it held no explicit threat, told me through its tone that he would have unhesitatingly killed me, had he not been in such a compromising position.

I wanted to probe his mind, but I'd seen the way it was in there, and I shivered. I didn't want to go back if I could help it. I had no powers there, either, and without them, and without my supersuit… I was in deep trouble. So I stayed comfortably on the outside, where I had a gun, a supersuit, and my powers.

However, I kept getting a prickling mental sensation. I attuned my mental senses to try and hear it, and a faint voice came: "_Please… I need you to help me. I'm trapped in here, I'm overwhelmed, and there's someone in here I'm sure you'd like very much to help_."

_Who are you?_ I questioned back.

_It's a long story, _came the reply,_ but to make it short, I'm the guy that Tierce killed a few minutes ago with the sword. I'm his light side, and I'm trying to control him, but he's unleashed a few… mental monsters… on me. I need help!_

_What do you want me to do? _I queried.

_If you could enter his mind, you could distract these monsters long enough for me to gain control of Tierce again._

_WHAT?!_ My reply came as an astonished mental shout. _I'm supposed to get in there and distract these guys so you can take over?_

_Yep._

_How do I do that?_

_Use your imagination._

I nearly wolf-whistled. This guy sure was asking a lot. But then again, if he really was who he claimed to be, then he was an ally. But, on the other hand, he could be lying, and even if he wasn't, I could just put a bullet in Tierce's head.

_No! _the voice came again. _You can't shoot him! If you do, all the souls he's trapped will be released, and that includes __Trigon__Malchior__, and Slade!_

_Slade!?_

_Yes, Slade._

_I hate that son of a bitch…_

_Who doesn't?_

_Fine…_ I growled. I didn't want to do this; it was so much more difficult and complicated than my way. But, it was apparently the only way.

I plunged myself into Tierce's mind, once again surrounded by total darkness.

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Ta-da! Once again, the chapter is over, and I hope you enjoyed it! And if you enjoyed it, heck, even if you didn't, you know what you should do.

Till next chapter, this is…

::Ghostalker::


	22. Chapter 20 Confusion

Hey everyone! After about two weeks of not updating, I'm back again. But believe me, the wait was definitely worth it. This chapter is about twice as long as a normal chapter, and has a good amount of action in it. I hope you like it, cuz it took me a long time to write it.

Oh, and I don't own the Teen Titans. Or John Smith. That's Phaethon's character.

I've just got my OC's Tylan and Tierce.

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Darkness… utter and complete darkness.

It was consuming. It was endless. It was _hungry_. And it wanted me.

Well, I wasn't about to be its next meal. I wasn't going to be sucked into the dark abyss, just another source of power that this evil entity I was invading would use to conquer the world.

I plunged into the darkness, using multiple Illusion-doppelgangers of myself to confuse the mind of Tierce and prevent him from tracking me. Each one took a different path, while my Wraith and I descended together.

**[What is your plan?**

"I don't know… you're usually pretty good at coming up with stuff. Why don't you do it?"

**[Need I remind you that I'm part of you?**

"No, you don't. And besides, that hasn't stopped you in the past."

**[True.**

I sighed as we fell further and further, until I could see the cavern-like space below us, where a single lone figure was battling a demon, a dragon, and…

"_Slade…"_ I spat. I hated him. He was the one who had, long ago, killed my friend for his own amusement. I thought I had taken care of him then, but he had apparently escaped in the interim. I hadn't heard anything about it in the six months or so that I had briefly spent working as a pseudo-Titan, but that didn't mean much. All I'd done had been fight various minor criminals, study spells with Raven, and generally annoy the hell out of Robin.

**[Back on track, Smith.**

"Thanks." I focused harder as we fell, and I was able to affect my reality such that I landed without breaking any bones. My Wraith, of course, touched down with elegance and grace. He was, after all, not material.

I glanced up, and my jaw dropped at the size of the towering foes the lone figure was fighting. Slade was fighting him one-on-one while the other two waited, simultaneously watching for their chance and making sure Slade's opponent didn't escape.

I sat back for a moment or two, debating how best to take on these titanic adversaries. I finally settled on a plan, one that would require a large amount of energy and a great deal of concentration. I summoned my magic and created a large number of illusory clones, each one identical. That ought to confuse them.

I sent my doppelgangers into the fray, and I could see the dismay on the dragon's and demon's faces as they pondered the impossibility of a thousand Wraiths. I sat down, so as to conserve my energy, and let my clones do their own thing. Though they couldn't strike a blow, the two gigantic villains didn't know that yet, and in return, the clones couldn't be struck. I smiled to myself, as my Wraith came to stand next to me.

**[You know that you can't sustain that for long. And besides, it's not really doing **_**him**_** any good.** It nodded toward the solitary man fighting tooth and nail against Slade. I was surprised to see that he was faring well in open combat.

"Well, it's keeping them off of him," I said.

**[I don't know if you noticed with all the mental clutter in here, but those three aren't the only dangerous ones in here. In fact, in addition to Tierce's presence, I also sense ****Cyborg****And…**

"And who?"

**And Raven.**

My eyes grew big. "Man, I leave the city for a year or two, and look what happens! How'd she get in here?"

**[Beats me.**

I slapped my forehead. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Wraith was technically just an extension of my soul-self, with all my memories and knowledge. I knew everything it did, and vice versa. It just sometimes noticed the mundane details I missed. In a way, it was kind of like having a second brain.

"Well, if we can get to her, we might have a chance. Where is she?"

**[Relative to your current orientation and position… she is approximately five hundred yards at 2 o' clock**

"Again, thanks." I stood, dispelling about a third of my doppelgangers so as to conserve energy, then started running in that direction. It was hard, with my leg injury, and my supersuit still on my material body, but I did it. I came within about 50 yards of where Wraith had indicated, but suddenly, a figure materialized out of the gloom. And it wasn't Raven.

"_Fool!"_ hissed Tierce. _"You didn't really think I'd let you do that, did you? She's mine! Mine forever!"_

"What? What are you talking about? Raven… Raven wants me…"

He snickered. "_I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but ever since you left, Raven's been keeping herself occupied. With _him_…" _He gestured at the lone figure, still battling Slade. "_And let me tell you, she seemed to forget all about you…"_

"No…" I fell to my knees. After everything we'd done together… after all the times we'd shared… she'd left me for another while I was gone? I couldn't believe it. I refused to believe it.

"You're lying." My voice was low and deadly, and I saw Tierce blink. "She would never do that."

"_Well, why don't you ask her?"_ He stepped to the side to reveal Raven, once more bound in shadowy chains.

"Raven!" I moved to join her, but Tierce spun into a kick that sent me flying.

"_Don't… touch… her…" _he hissed.

I slowly got to my feet, my leg paining me beyond belief. My Wraith stepped between me and Tierce. I stared back at the single man, who now lay on the ground, Slade standing triumphantly over him.

In a split second my mind was made up, and though I couldn't bear to leave Raven, I knew the only way to end this was to help the unknown guy. I shunted power into my leg to dull the pain, then sprinted back toward Slade, my Wraith gliding ahead of me.

Slade turned to me, and he whipped his staff from his belt, then ran at me. I cursed myself for my foolishness; Slade couldn't see Wraith, and so my powers of Illusion were useless against him. I had to use something else.

In my limited experience with pyrokinesis, I had had only sporadic success, and then only the best of circumstances. These were certainly not the best of circumstances, but I couldn't think of any other school of magic that would work. So I summoned a fireball to my hand, scorching it in the process, but I managed to launch it at high speed toward Slade.

It broadsided him, throwing him about two hundred feet through the air. I limped over to the fallen man, and I extended my hand to him. He took it, and I helped him to his feet.

"Thanks. You must be the guy who was going to kill Tierce."

"One and the same. You must be the one who was trying to take over from the inside."

"Yep. The name's Tylan."

"The name is Smith. John Smith."

"Well, now that we know each other's names, the author isn't going to have to refer to me as 'the lone figure' anymore"

I smiled at that one. "That's very true. And now the readers know my name. Anyway," I said, changing the subject, "we'd better get back to fighting."

"Yeah, good call."

"Listen, I want to take out Slade, but his mind is too hard to break into. Can you soften him up a little for me?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." He closed his eyes, and moments later, I found Slade's mind, no longer slippery and hard to confuse, but open. Wide open. I grinned. This would be fun.

I summoned Wraith again, and Tylan stepped over to where Tierce was approaching us. I couldn't fight Slade myself in my condition, but now that his mind was open, I could use Wraith to fight him while I used something far more effective on the other two villains. I concentrated deeply, for I would need every ounce of focus and energy for the task ahead.

Through my unfocused eyes, I could see that Wraith was holding his own against Slade. I didn't know about Tylan, but I suspected he and Tierce were evenly matched as well. But I was about to turn the tide.

I reached out to the thousands of screaming minds inside the dark realm, and I conjured all the strength I possessed. I felt myself explode outward, my consciousness fragmenting into thousands of pieces as each piece entered a mind, taking control of it. I was hit by a tidal wave of thoughts, most of them despairing. The other thing I felt was an overwhelming pain. I felt their pain myself, as if I was imprisoned, being drained of energy, right beside them.

"Tylan!" I shouted. "I need you to break the bonds on the imprisoned souls!"

"Done!" he replied, and suddenly, I was… we were… free.

I moved quickly, my Domination power controlling the thousands of souls that were no longer bound. We swarmed over Malchior and Trigon, dragging them down, screaming for vengeance.

Tierce collapsed, his power no longer substantial enough to fight against Tylan's control. Tylan stood over his downed opponent, smirking in triumph.

He turned to me and said, "Let's get out of here."

I gritted my teeth. "I… can't…" I choked out. "I'm… controlling… the imprisoned minds…"

"Forget about them!" he cried. "I have a plan that will take care of them as soon as we get out. But we'll need Raven. I'll get her, you set them on Trigon and Malchior, and we'll get the hell out of here."

"All right," I grunted. I concentrated harder on the horde at my command, and set them to attack Malchior and Trigon for another three minutes. That was all the time my control would last without focus.

He returned, carrying Raven in his arms, and my face burned, but I said nothing. I released my mind from the countless thousands of minds, summoned Wraith back from his fight with Slade, and then pulled myself out of Tierce's mind with a jolt.

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Tylan concentrated with all his might, and he felt himself begin to rise through the darkness, toward the bright portal of light overhead. Below, Slade howled with rage as his prey escaped, and Malchior and Trigon screamed with anger as the imprisoned souls swarmed over them, sucking the life out of them.

Tierce slowly sat up, his head aching as his empire dissolved around him. He would not let it go… he would NOT!

He summoned the last of his own power, and began to re-capture the people he had absorbed, one by one, using their power to feed his own, as he took back his entire horde.

Except for the three. The dragon and demon were weakened, and so was Slade, but it would still take far more power than he really wanted to use. Still, he had no choice.

He drained every last mind, every single entity he controlled as he captured Trigon first, in turn using his energy to snare Malchior, and finally Slade.

Everything was back under his control, but his power had diminished severely. He needed more.

He smiled wickedly to himself. He had just the idea.

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Tylan opened his eyes. The gaping wound in his chest was there once again, though no blood issued from it. _How am I alive with that big old hole in me?_ He didn't have time to ponder it long, because he had a very important task to undertake. He had to return Raven to her body.

_Tylan__ Where am I?_ came her voice inside his head. _The last thing I remember is that dark abyss…_

_Don't __worry,__ you're inside my mind now. But I'll get you back to your body, never fear._

_I should hope so. This is kind of awkward._

_Yeah. It is._ I thought for a second. _Hey, how do you know this John Smith guy?_

If she had had a body, it would have tensed up, and she would probably have frowned. He merely got the impression of these signals. _We… had something. He left about a year before I met you, and never __called me. I… started becoming disenchanted with him, and then, when I left the Titans and met you… I guess you reminded me a lot of him._

_So you loved him? _I asked, dreading the answer.

_Y… I know he loved me. And I think I loved him too, but…_

_But what?_

_He was a villain to begin with, __Tylan_, she answered, pain evident in her tone. _I taught him a lot of things, and we were very good friends. More than friends, even. But Robin… he didn't like John. He hated him, in fact. So the relationship was very strained._

He thought about that for a while. His own relationship with her hadn't lasted very long. In fact, his death had occurred a mere three weeks after meeting her. So he couldn't really say much about relationships in general, especially ones with villains. _You were a villain once, too,_ reminded an accusing voice. My own voice.

"Well, let's just drop that subject for now," he said aloud, not remembering to answer her mentally. He staggered over to where her body lay, then put his hands on her chest. It was _very_ awkward.

_Will you just focus and do what needs to be done?_ she asked, annoyed.

He sighed, then opened a mental channel to her body. She stepped through the portal and back into herself.

She opened her eyes, and stared back up at him.

"You can get your hands off my boobs now," she stated.

"Sorry." He quickly yanked his hands back.

"So, what's your big plan to take Tierce out? Your last one didn't work so well."

"Yeah, it just got us in and out. And caused a little bit of chaos in there," commented Smith, as he walked up behind us.

"Well, listen closely, and I'll tell you…"

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Woot! How awesome was that?

What's the big plan? Is Tierce going to make yet _another_ comeback? How many times is the author going to end the chapter with a bunch of questions? Find out next time, on…

When Ghostalker updates!

So, in closing (not that this is the last chapter, you understand), I'd just like to thank all my faithful reviewers, the Big Three (criesblood, Phaethon, and darknessofmyheart) especially. So keep on reviewing, guys! It's great to hear from you and to write for you!

Until next time, this is…

::Ghostalker::


	23. Chapter 21 Imprisonment

Well, after a long case of writer's block, I, the great and mighty Ghostalker, have returned to give you the second-to-last chapter of Finality. Yes, that's right, my unfortunate readers, the story is finally drawing to a close. With that, however, comes the possibility of another, yes, another sequel. So, without any further ado, here is the penultimate chapter.

Oh, BTW, I don't own the Teen Titans (they belong to DC Comics) or John Smith (he's Phaethon's). I do own the plot and Tierce and Tylan, but that's about it.

Oh, and penultimate means next-to-last.

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The three superheroes huddled together, speaking in hurried, hushed tones. The one wearing what looked to be a spacesuit was motioning enthusiastically with his hands. The one with the blue cloak nodded every now and then, agreeing, but not excited. The final one, the one in a white trench coat, sat back on his haunches and listened intently, not confident that the plan would necessarily work.

"Look, he's weak! We just took away his three strongest power sources. Even if he gets them back, he's going to have to waste all the others he has just to do that. That'll give us an opening, an opportunity, to carry this plan out." Tylan finished his statement with emphasis and studied the faces of his two companions.

Raven's face was straight, as usual, but he could feel her radiating both excitement and worry. Excitement for the plan, and worry that it wouldn't work.

Smith was harder to read. He didn't have the emotional connection to the man he had met just minutes earlier that he had to Raven, and so the man's face was his only window into his thoughts. After about a minute of deliberation, Smith stood and wolf-whistled.

"Well… it's not a foolproof plan. But it's the best we've got."

Tylan grinned, his trademark smile breaking across his face once again. "Excellent! Let's get this show on the road!"

The three looked up to the building, where Tierce still stood motionless, his battle an internal one.

But without warning, Tierce blinked. He twitched, and then bent over to retrieve his soul-eating blade before straightening and shouting with glee.

"Come to me, my minions!" His voice boomed, loud and menacing, across the cityscape. Raven shivered.

"What is it?" both Tylan and John asked.

"That's… my father's voice…" she whispered. "He's regained control of them."

"Damn!" John Smith swore. "And just when I thought it was gonna be easy…"

"What's he saying about minions?" Tylan wondered aloud.

His answer came a moment later as thousands of streaks of fire flashed from all corners of the city, at lightning speed toward their master's call.

"Raven! Get us up there!" shouted Tylan.

"Got it!" She flung out her cloak, and the three were soon wrapped in a bubble of darkness, which instantly transported them to the building top.

The sight they saw was appalling.

The mass of fire swirling around Tierce had _faces_… evil, hideous, demonic faces. And as the fire swarmed around Tierce and over him, he began to change. He grew taller, his muscles bulged, and horns and spines began growing out his back. His eyes turned blood red, and his body became covered with black fire… fire that dripped from him and continued to burn on the concrete below as if it were burning oil.

When the fiery vortex had vanished, a monster had taken the place of their foe.

He... it… laughed, a horrible, thousand-voiced cackle that chilled the trio to their very bones. _"Come and get me… mortals…"_ it boomed.

"Shit…" Tylan whispered.

The monster swung its gigantic blade, leaving a trail of flames that were dark as night. The three scattered, surrounding the fiery apparition.

"Go!" shouted Tylan as he put his helmet on and leapt into the fray. Smith pulled out his electro-knives and dashed in, a spell increasing his reflexes and speed. He slashed at the monster, then darted back out, and activated his armor-coat as the sword came slashing back at him. The pure adamantium of the trench coat stopped the blade from slicing Smith in half, but the impact was enough to knock him off the edge.

As the monster gloated in his small victory, Tylan ran up behind it and sprayed pure liquid psitanium into his hand, which, under his psychic influence, quickly assumed the form of a six-foot long sword. It whistled through the air with near-sonic speed, and ripped an enormous gash in Tierce's back.

It howled, and whirled around, its own blade clashing with Tylan's. But even with his superhuman strength, Tylan couldn't keep Tierce from pressing forward, bearing him slowly to the ground.

"Smith, Raven, now!" he shouted.

Raven had been flying high above the battlefield waiting for this moment. She pulled back, and with all her strength, sent a blast of black magic straight down at the monster's back. This forced Tierce to its knees, and Smith, with a GRAVE-assisted jump, brought both knives down with all his strength into the monster's shoulders. He flipped the switch, and 10,000 volts of electricity arced through the beast's body, causing it to jerk and spasm.

"How do ya like that?" Smith crowed. But before he could say another word, he was thrown violently off the rooftop again as the monster reared back and shook him off. This, however, granted Tylan enough time to roll out from under it, stand, and ram his morph-blade up to the hilt in its chest. The beast howled with pain and rage, and smashed its arm into its assailant, sending him soaring through the air.

Gunshots echoed through the empty street canyons as Smith, who had once again managed to climb to the rooftop, unloaded his Sidewinder into the creature's back. As the lumbering fiend jerked around to see what had hurt it, Raven sent an abandoned school bus and several chunks of street straight into its face.

The bus exploded in a flash of flame, and the blocks of concrete simply vanished on contact with the fiery ogre. Tierce staggered under the force of the explosion, and Smith took this opportunity to leap onto its back and retrieve his knives, making sure to rip them out as painfully as possible.

Tylan landed lightly on his feet. "Whew! That was quite a punch!" he gasped. "It just won't give up…"

He aimed a blue energy beam at Tierce, but all it did was aggravate it. He bent over, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

Tierce was now swatting at Raven, who barely managed to hover a few feet away from its swipes. Smith lay dazed on the opposite side of the roof from Tylan. Raven was tiring, Tylan could tell; the ordeal inside Tierce's mind had been hard on her, and this battle wasn't much easier. His wind back, he charged ahead, the liquid psitanium from his dormant blade now rising off the ground to form forearm blades that extended a full three feet from each wrist. Focusing his energy, he increased his agility to near-blinding speed, and began a series of slashes that started from Tierce's leg, and worked its way up to the creature's face. But each wound, lined with flames and what looked like magma, simply re-sealed, with no visible damage.

"Damn… it's not working…" he grunted, frustration taking over.

The monster threw him from its back, and loomed over him, its sword raised for the killing blow. But just as the blade would have come crashing down to end Tylan's life _again_, a series of small explosions peppered the fiend's arm.

Robin landed, his staff already extended in his left hand, and his right holding several electro-disks. "It's time to fight fire with fire," he said, in his best one-liner voice.

He rushed in, twirling his staff several times before leaping into the air and twisting to gain maximum torque. His staff hit Tierce in the face like a ton of bricks, staggering it back and sending a shower of embers floating into the air.

"Now, Starfire!" shouted Robin as he went sailing past the afflicted monster. The Tamaranian swooped down from her flight path far above, her eyes glowing a fierce emerald and her hands wreathed in green energy. With a shout, she unleashed a burst of jade-colored fury that staggered Tierce back even more.

But the Titans were far from finished, as Beast Boy soared above as a hawk, then transformed into a gorilla, bringing his enormous simian fists down together like a divine hammer. The blow took Tierce from his feet, and Tylan rushed in at the opportunity. Forming the psitanium into an axe, he swung it high over his head, and chopped downward with unbelievable force…

And cut right through the beast's hand.

The sword it had held went skidding across the rooftop, and before Tylan could react, the enraged fiend grabbed him by his feet with its newly reformed hand, and slammed him down on the concrete. His breath left him in a mighty _whoosh_.

As Tierce once again loomed over his fallen opponent, his mouth opened in a cruel mockery of a grin. He brought his fist up in preparation for the end.

"Starfire! Now!" shouted Tylan. Though no signal had been passed between the two beforehand, she seemed to understand what he meant. She tossed the enormous sword she held through the air, where it skidded to a halt right next to him.

He snatched it up, and in one swift move, buried the sword up to its hilt.

This sword did what no other blow could; it spelt doom for the monster.

With a mighty shriek, a thousand voices screaming in torment, the fire rushed over the sword. Tylan felt the fire wash over him, but he refused to let it consume him, refused to let those souls into his body. Instead, he channeled every iota of power he had into confining them to the blade he held. After what seemed like an eternity, the fire was gone, Tierce was normal, and the sword showed no sign of housing thousands of demonic souls.

Tylan collapsed where he stood.

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Well, there you have it! The second-to-last chapter. The next (and last) chapter contains the conclusion to this story, and possibly the setup for the next one. Who knows? I may have more crossover for JS, or maybe Phaethon will revoke my privilege of using him. All I'm saying is, there may be another installment, which would make it a trilogy. Now wouldn't that be exciting?

Oh, and please review. I like those.

::ghostalker::


	24. Chapter 22 Conclusion

Weep bitter tears, oh fans of Finality! For this is the final chapter, and there will not be another story for a while, because I'm going on break. Oh, and I'll probably have writer's block for a while. The sequel isn't planned out in my head yet, but that's enough about that.

I don't own the Teen Titans or Edna Mode from The Incredibles. I also don't own John Smith. He belongs only to the mighty Phaethon, master of stories and my favorite author on this site.

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I stood over the unconscious body of Tierce, his breathing slow and steady. I wanted to hurt him so badly for what he had done to Raven, but being a superhero, I couldn't exactly do it. Instead, I kicked him lightly, and his eyes fluttered open.

"Wha… where am I?" he asked. I wanted to kick him harder for pretending he didn't know what he had done. How dare he dismiss all the atrocities he had committed with this amnesia bullshit?

My fists clenched, but before I could do anything, Raven came and put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't do it," she said to me. "He really doesn't remember anything. It wasn't him."

I looked at her in surprise. "How did you know?" I asked.

"I'm an empath, remember?" She shrugged. "I know he did a lot of terrible things, but in all honesty, he was only the unwitting tool."

"I guess you're right." My fists unclenched, but I was still mad. Mad at him for letting this happen. Mad at Tylan for what his dark side had done. Mad at myself for leaving Raven.

I heard a loud groan, and looked over to see Tylan, still clutching the enormous blade, sit up and hold his head. Raven rushed over to him, and I felt a stab of jealousy in my gut. How could she…?

I could barely hear the two of them speaking over the blood pounding through my head. Raven tried to hug him, but to my surprise, he spoke and she stopped. I could see the hurt in her face, but he was resolved. He stood with her help, and together they walked over to me.

"Smith… I just wanted to thank you for your help," he said as he approached. "Without your help back there, I wouldn't have been able to take back over, and I wouldn't be here talking to you. So thanks." He extended his hand to me. I took it and shook.

"And…" he continued, and I wondered what he was going to say. "… regarding the awkward situation between the three of us… I spoke with Raven, and the two of us can't be together."

"What makes you say that?" I was truly confused.

"She… she still has feelings for you. I was… a consolation prize, I guess, after you left. So if I may be indelicate, you saw her first. And she is fine with it; in fact, she wanted to be with you. Who am I to stop her?"

I was simply dumbstruck. After I had left, and she had found this guy who was everything she needed, she wanted to come back to _me?_ _Don't complain__ Smith…_ came a voice in my head.

"And you're sure you're okay with this?" I turned to her. She hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone," Tylan said as he turned to go.

Robin stopped him. "Where are you going? Especially with that sword?"

In the whole issue with Raven, I had forgotten completely about the trapped souls inside the monstrous blade Tylan still held.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I can't live a civilian life anymore. Especially since everyone I knew thinks I'm still dead." He looked down at his hand. "I just seem to bring destruction wherever I go. I'm not hanging around Jump City anymore. If I do, I'll just end up bringing more trouble."

Robin held up both his hands. "Whoa, wait just a second. You're one of the most powerful heroes we've ever met. We could really use some skill like yours on the Titans."

Tylan laughed. "Wow, what an offer! Much as I'd like to accept, Bird Boy, I can't. I don't have my powers anymore. I've conquered my dark side, and so, technically, I should be in the afterlife by now. Why I'm not, I have no idea." He shrugged once more. "I don't know what to do with the rest of my life."

I smiled as I put an arm around Raven, who, surprisingly, didn't throw it off. "I have an idea."

He turned around to face me again. "Really? What's that?"

I pointed at his armor. "You designed and built that yourself, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

I pointed to my own trench coat. "I know the person who made this, and I think you two would work well together."

"Hmm…" He stopped to consider that. "How can I get in contact with this person?"

"Hold on a second." I dug through my pocket, fishing out a worn business card. "Her name is Edna Mode. And I think she'll be fascinated with your work."

"Thanks." He smiled and shook my hand. "Best of luck with the hero business. And if I can get that job… stop on by some time and we'll hang out."

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied. "Oh, and what are you going to do with that giant blade?"

He shrugged. "Keep it as a souvenir, I guess. I just want to be able to keep an eye on it. If I get tired of it, I may put it in a safe vault."

"Oh."

He looked around. "Now, where did I leave that jet-bike…?"

I smiled down at Raven, and she tried to smile back. It came out as a smirk, but I knew the intent. I pulled her closer. "I think this is going to be the start of…"

"If you finish that how I think you're going to, you'll wish you'd never come back," she growled.

I sighed with contentment. _Some things never change_.

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There it is, the final installment of Finality! I really hope you enjoyed the story. If you did, review, please, and look for the sequel sometime in the next couple of months. It ought to be good.

And one last time, I'd like to the thank the Triumvirate of Faithful Reviewers! They are, of course, Phaethon, criesblood, and darknessofmyheart. Thanks, you guys! Without you, I would never have written this much. Or this well. It's always a pleasure to write for you, and I hope that pleasure continues throughout the next few stories I author.

Until the sequel, this is…

::Ghostalker::


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